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 10th post of 2025 in this year’s series of
“The Anaesthetist’s Allotment”.
It has been a couple of weeks since my last posting. Things move forward at pace in the Allotment at this time of year!
In the greenhouse:
Cucumber – “Mini Munch” were potted up into individual pots to continue growing a couple of weeks ago.
They have now been potted on again into their final position: a grow-bag in the greenhouse.
Looking good!
Some of the Pumpkin – “Jack of All Trades” & “Wicked” had been potted on into their final position in big pots within the greenhouse. During the last week or so, they have doubled in size (right).
Others have been potted up (left), ready to be planted out into The Allotment once all risk of frost is gone
Summer Squash – “Little Gem”, or for those from Southern Africa, “Gemsquash”.
Some of these have been planted out into pots in their final place within the greenhouse.
For others, I have put a climbing frame above each pot instead of my traditional trellis attached to the greenhouse. This is for the plant to grow up. I have used the frame as there is a chance that the Allotment will be relocating and I can then take them with me. (left).
There are also a couple of Gemsquash that have been potted up ready to be planted directly out into the Allotment.
Courgettes – “Gold Mine” (yellow) & “Zucchini” (green) – The green courgettes are looking good.
I had to replant the yellow courgettes as the first sowing did not germinate (for some reason). So they were a bit behind. I have now potted them up and they are looking great. (right).
The Chilli (Apache) 🌶️ is coming along nicely. It has doubled in size over the last couple of weeks. But I noticed that the leaves had developed bumps and were curling over. Turning the leaves over, I noticed loads of tiny whitish insects – maybe aphids, maybe whitefly. Me bad – I sprayed them! But I have ordered some ladybirds on the internet and plan to release them in the greenhouse when they arrive to keep these nasties under control.
My Sweetcorn (Swift) arrived in the post yesterday. Last year, we grew another variety which I bought from a local garden centre. They were horrible. So I reverted to this well tested variety – they are usually delicious – and ordered them early on, in January!
I could have planted them out directly into the allotment, but we have winds of over 70kph over the next few days, and these winds would destroy these tiny plants. So, I have decided to grow them on in the greenhouse for about a week (right).
The Tomato’s (Gardeners Delight) are also steaming away and shooting up. I have placed string ties for them to grow along, as I usually do. Unfortunately I got a bit heavy handed with the one on the very right and snapped off the growing stem. 😔. This is not a major problem though as a new shoot will develop from the leaves / stem joint below and will take over quite quickly as the main stem. I’m calling it a Chelsea Chop for my tomato plant!!! 😬
I showed you some flowers on the tomato plants last time. They are now developing into fruit (right)
The Seed Potatoes (Picasso) which I had planted into grow-bags in January had sprouted in early February. They needed more compost added to the bags on two occasions as the plants grew.
They are now outside full-time and thriving. They are covered in blooms. I have never seen this many flowers on my potted potatoes. Hope that means that we will get a great crop!
Leeks – Oarsman and Below Zero – Both have sprouted nicely. Looking good. In the cold frame for a week or so now, and have doubled in size. But still need to get a bit bigger before planting out into the allotment. I’m looking for pencil thickness, well, maybe half that!
The Ficus Bonsai was starting to look a bit wooly and overgrown. So it was time for a serious haircut.
Back into shape again and looking very suave after it’s haircut (left)
The Juniper Bonsai was similarly looking very dishevelled and wooly in its winter plumage. So whilst pretending to be a hairdresser, I gave it a good short, back & sides just for good measure!
Halfway through (top) and complete (bottom).
Looks great now.
I returned the Ficus and Juniper Bonsai to the display frame which I created before my last post. Looking great 😊 !
I resisted the temptation to take the scissors to the two Jacaranda Bonsai’s and left them alone completely.
Only a couple of very tiny snips to the two Acer Bonsai’s on the top shelf. It really is the wrong time of year to prune an Acer, because being a Maple, they can bleed syrup from the wounds to the extent of sickening and even expiring.
The watering system is now set up and working.
Veggie garden / Allotment:
The allotment is really starting to fill up now. Quite a bit more green in evidence now.
The Broccoli Marathon which I planted out in the middle of April are looking great. They have more than doubled in size since the last posting (top of the bed)
I have some more Broccoli plants arriving later in the growing season – I’m attempting to get a nice staggered approach to the crop (successional sowing!) instead of the usual glut of Broccoli which we get at harvest time. However, these later plants only arrive in June / July. So, on reflection, 3 broccoli will not last us that long. So, I had sown some more Broccoli seeds in the greenhouse. These germinated nicely and have been in the cold frame for the last week or so, preparing to be planted out into The Allotment. This week they join their “big brothers” in the Broccoli bed (bottom of the picture). They look tiny 😬, but will be fine.
Also moving out from the cold frame this week: Summer Cabbage (Caraflex) (right). – These have moved in next to the Spring Cabbages (left). Again, they look absolutely tiny in comparison to their cousins!
The Spring Cabbage – “Spring Hero” (left) was sown in September last year, then planted out into the allotment last autumn. As the days start to lengthen, they have taken off and are now bulking up nicely. Forming hearts this week. Wont be long until we get delicious cabbages from these – they are the most tasty of our cabbages.
The Brussels Sprout (Brodie) have also done their time in the cold frame and are now ready to move out into their delicately hoe-d raised bed (top).
They are planted nice and deep for stability and canes added to hold them upright as they grow (middle).
A protective netting has been placed over them to protect them from the pigeons and other scavengers at the moment, but later to protect them from the dreaded cabbage fly! (Bottom)
Peas (Early Onward) were sown directly into the soil.
A structure with a net was erected for the peas to grow up.
Last year, someone (I’m convinced it was pigeons or blackbirds) dug up all of my pea seeds. So I put a protective net fence over the top of them to try to prevent this. It failed! The birds still got in, so I had to add some more netting on the other side. That seems to be working and the remaining peas (which have not been snaffled by the birds) are now growing well.
I will let them get to about a foot tall and will then sow another row of peas on the right hand side of the bed to provide a successional harvest.
I have also sown the Runner Beans (St George) directly into the soil.
These have all sprouted well and growing quickly. It wont be long now until they are heading off up the wigwam poles at pace.
I have also sown some more Broad Beans (The Sutton) directly into the soil. Two weeks before this, I had sown some of these seeds in the heated propagator inside the greenhouse. Hopefully these two sowings will give us a successional crop, thereby extending our harvest.
The directly sown beans have sprouted.
The ones grown in the greenhouse have been planted out.
It is impossible to tell the difference between the two! So much for this successional planting nonsense!!!!
They are all growing away nicely, some of the greenhouse grown plants have developed flowers this week, so maybe there is a difference after all!!
I have sown some Carrot (Amsterdam Forcing) directly into the soil.
I have put a carrot fly preventative netting across the top of them. If you look closely, you can see the three rows of carrots coming along nicely – along with the marigold I have planted in there with them. Yes, I am getting desperate now in my attempts to prevent the dreaded carrot fly!
I have direct sown Beetroot (Boltardy and Golden) seeds directly into the raised-bed.
The **&%$”?! Birds snuck under the net and scoffed most of the tiny seedlings. I have blocked the edges of the net – a few remain and have grown nicely without the birds predating on them.
To these I have added the beetroot grown in the greenhouse. Again, it is quite difficult to tell the difference between the two!
I have direct sown Spinach (Perpetual) seeds directly into the raised-bed.
To these, I have added the plants grown in the greenhouse, which to be fair, are a bit bigger than their directly grown peers.
Also planted out are some Rainbow Chard which were also grown in the greenhouse and hardened off in the cold frame.
The Shallots “Longor” were also planted out in March. They are also looking great and doing well. They have had their winter cover removed and are now starting to divide into their “cloves”. Their leaves will soon start to brown off and it will then be time to harvest them.
The Garlic – “Granny’s” and “Solent Wight” were sown in autumn last year. They have both sprouted well and are now growing very strongly. Should be a good crop.
The Rhubarb is coming along nicely (left).
It must surely be time for another Rhubarb Crumble, me thinks!!!
I have sown Parsnip Countess directly into the raised bed today.
The Seed Potatoes (Picasso) were chitted in the greenhouse from January.
They are growing away nicely and are looking really healthy (left).
Winter cabbages (Tundra) were planted out into The Allotment into their final position a couple of weeks ago (right). Looking great! 😊
A net has been erected over them to protect them from the birds initially, but, perhaps more importantly later on from the dreaded cabbage white butterfly larvae.
The Onions “Hercules” from the greenhouse were planted out into the allotment in March. They are coming along nicely and looking good.
In the Fruit Garden:
The two Strawberry beds (foreground) now have loads of white flowers everywhere. It wont be long until we are gorging on fabulous strawberries (hopefully 🤞!).
The Redcurrants are forming on the redcurrant bushes now (left)
There are a lot of white flowers on the Bramble – aka Blackberry – cane. Hopefully we will get a good crop of these delicious berries this year.
The Gooseberries are forming on the bushes (left). These are the green gooseberries. We also have red gooseberries.
I noticed a collection of “bugs” near the tip of the Gooseberry stems (right). I might release some of my ladybirds here as well (when they arrive!). At the moment, the plants look ok, so will just observe.
Apples are starting to form on the trees.
Before I go, our first peony.
Beautiful!
I will see you all in a week or so with further updates.
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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