Hello again! 👋
Welcome to this edition of The Anaesthetist’s Allotment. I hope you enjoy it.
Please feel free to follow, like or comment and I look forward to getting some of your feedback.
Disclaimer: I’m a professional anaesthetist, not a professional gardener. I do a bit of gardening and cycling in my spare time. I have grown veggies for many years and have learnt what works for me (sometimes!). These are my ramblings! I would be honoured to be corrected / advised by those with more knowledge than me!
General:
This is the 3rd post of 2025 in this year’s series of
“The Anaesthetist’s Allotment”.
Winter still holds sway in the North of Scotland. The skies are clear (well they were yesterday!) and there is no rain. Temperatures are also a wee bit better with minimum’s of -2 to +3’C and maximum’s of about 8’C. We had two days of balmy heatwave at 14’C – in the North of Scotland in mid-February. Pull the Other one! But it did happen – seems like Global Warming is indeed a thang!
The Snowdrops – are still going strong.
Lots in flower now and spreading out through the flowerbed from the original little clump very nicely.
Even some Heather is flowering. This is obviously not native wild heather as that usually blooms spectacularly on the hills around here in August.
More of the Crocus’s have made their presence known down the side of the driveway. Purple and Lilac colours are now starting to join the orange ones which seemed to be the first to show!
The Lilac Crocuses are also out in a magnificent display round by the greenhouse at the back. This is quite an achievement because this area is in the shadow of the house all winter and gets virtually no direct light.
I love the way that they have self-seeded into the lawn under the apple trees.
Similarly, in the pots at the top of the driveway, the purple and lilac Crocus seem to have swamped the early orange varieties.
Daffodils in the pots are growing nicely and have even burst into their lovely bright yellow flowers. It always brings some joy to this time of year.
It is so interesting how these Daffodils are flowering whilst those at the bottom of the garden have not even started poking their first leaves through the grass yet. I suspect that this is due to the sun-trap effect at the top of the driveway, together with the 20ft altitude difference which seems to make all the difference.
I have planted some Pansies in the pots to provide a bit of spring colour
At the top of our driveway we had a bed which had “done its own thing” over the years. It had become very over grown, with grass invading everywhere and was a real mess.
Eventually I summoned up the courage and attacked it. The shrubs were given a major haircut. The grass and weeds were trimmed right back to ground level. A weed preventative membrane was pegged to the entire area and a bark layer added to make it look a bit nicer.
Three full days of hard work. But it was worth it. Oh my! What a difference!
In the greenhouse:
Potatoes – Picasso were set out at the end of January to start chitting. This is a process whereby they develop tiny shoots in response to light, much as old potatoes do if you keep them in the kitchen for too long! This allows them to grow quicker and better when they are planted. It’s a sort of pre-conditioning.
I planted a few of these seed potatoes into two grow bags within the greenhouse. Hoping to get an early crop from these. But there is no sign of any growth in either grow-bags yet!
Last time, I described how I had bought a couple of Acer’s from our local garden centre in late autumn. In mid-January, I had given them a massive root trim and repotted them into proper Bonsai pots. They had seemed to have survived this radical assault at the time of my last post.
The Acer Palmitum Atropurpureum (right) is looking fine. The tiny little buds (top) along its branches had enlarged some more and were a bit more obvious at my last posting (middle). They are now really obvious (bottom) and look ready to burst into full purple leaf any time now.
The Acer Palmitum Orange Dream (left) sprouted leaves quite early on.
I wonder why it has that name? 🙄 😒!
It gradually changed colour from red (top) to orange (middle left) then (middle right) and then to orange yellow (bottom).
It is now an almost lime colour with orange edges (left)
Within the greenhouse there is a separately heated mini-greenhouse with artificial lighting.
This mini-greenhouse shelters my most tender bonsais from the harshness of winter. Even the frost-free greenhouse is too cold for them.
There are two Jacaranda Bonsai trees (top left), and a Ficus (Fig) (bottom left). Thanks to the mini-greenhouse they have survived winter, so far. This method has worked well for the last 3 years, so I have every reason to believe that they will survive.True, the Jacarandas look a bit tatty, but they will produce new leaves as soon as it warms up a bit more.
My other bonsai is a hardy Juniper (right). It is looking great after its winter in the normal greenhouse. It’s moss, well, not so much!!!
There is another heated mini-greenhouse within the main greenhouse (right). It also had additional artificial lighting. Within this are several salad crops. These have been pretty much dormant all winter, despite my efforts at heating and lighting 😔!
They are now starting to grow. I’ve sown some additional seeds recently which are also starting to sprout (left)
The Shallots have now started sprouting. I will wait another week or two to let them all shoot and get a bit stronger before planting them out into the allotment. They better hurry up as it is only 3 weeks until we head away on a wee sun-break.
Funnily enough the Onion Sets have sprouted quicker than the shallots. It’s normally the other way around. They are coming along nicely.
Veggie garden / Allotment:
Today’s wee harvest. I still find it amazing that we are still getting delicious fresh veg from our Allotment at this time of year and in the harshest of conditions.
This will probably be our last beetroot! The rest are still tiny after my disaster with them last year. I dont know that the rest will ever grow now!
The Brussels Sprouts are still looking and tasting a-maze-zing. They are soooo much better than shop bought ones!
Sadly the Winter Cabbage (Tundra) are now finished. The last one is halfway finished in the fridge. I will still get a couple of delicious coleslaws out of it.
I also had to take out the Kale today and relegate it to the compost heap. RIP 🪦! It had done well!
I look forward to keeping you updated regularly on further developments in The Anaesthetists Allotment.
See you next time!
Dr Doug (Douglas) McKendrick 
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