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 11th 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.
They have more than doubled in height over the last couple of weeks. Looking good!
…… and, look…….
…… tiny cucumbers with flowers forming (right)!
Won’t be long until we get delicious mini cucumbers. 😋
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 – again! So have been moved into their final positions in the greenhouse, next to the glass . They are already peeking over the bench! (right).
Others have been potted up (left), ready to be planted out into The Allotment once all risk of frost is gone. They have now been moved down to ground level and are growing fast. We have huge winds predicted for tomorrow, so I’m planning to plant them out into the allotment on Thursday.
A flower is already visible!
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 and are growing away fast. (Left)
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. (right).
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 (right). A courgette is already on the way!
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. (Left).
The Courgettes will all get planted out into the Allotment on Thursday when the winds subside – hopefully 🤞!
We have some lovely Perpetual Wallflowers in the garden. One Purple, one Purple & Yellow, and one Orange and yellow.
A week ago, I took some cuttings from each, dipped them into rooting hormone powder and stuck them into sand. I then gave them a good watering and secured a clear plastic bag over the top with a rubber band to act like a mini humidifier / greenhouse. They now get left to take root and become new plants. Well, thats the theory anyway! 🤞
We also have a brilliant Salvia Hotlips in the garden. Again, I took cuttings last week and used the same process to plant them into a sand substrate (right).
This week, they are all looking fine (left). Nice misting inside the plastic bags, as it should. It is a bit early for any signs of rooting / growth just yet.
My Sweetcorn (Swift) arrived in the post about a week ago. 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!
Due to inclement weather, I had planted them into a tray rather than directly out into the allotment. Thank goodness I did! Two of them did not make it – reason unknown – but I suspect that many more would have demised had they been planted straight out. The rest seem to have survived the postage and my efforts, and are now growing on strongly (right).
The Tomato’s (Gardeners Delight) are also steaming away and shooting up (left). I have placed string ties for them to grow along, as I usually do, and they are heading up them quickly.
Unfortunately, last time, I got a bit heavy handed with the one on the very right and snapped off the growing stem. 😔. As I thought, a new shoot has developed from the leaves / stem joint below and is already taking over as the main stem (right). I’m calling it a Chelsea Chop for my tomato plant!!! 😬
Several tomatoes are well on the way – on all three plants!!! (right)
…… even the Chelsea-chopped one (left)!!
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. The blooms have now finished. That means that we could start harvesting them as “new potatoes”, but I will wait until the foliage dies down before harvesting to give us larger tatties!
Leeks – Oarsman and Below Zero – Both have sprouted nicely. Looking good. In the cold frame for about three weeks now, and have doubled in size again. But still need to get a bit bigger before planting out into the allotment. I’m looking for pencil thickness, well, maybe half that! I think they will be getting planted out later this week when the winds have finished.
They are all looking good. Obviously enjoying their foray out of the greenhouse.
The watering system is now set up and working, but has been temporarily discontinued because we are getting lots of rain at the moment.
Veggie garden / Allotment:
The allotment is really starting to fill up now. Quite a bit more green in evidence now. Looking really good 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. Heads should be forming soon. (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. Last week they joined their “big brothers” in the Broccoli bed (bottom of the picture). They look tiny 😬, but will be fine. They have already doubled in size over the last couple of weeks.
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, but again, have doubled in size over the last couple of weeks, and look nice and healthy.
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 now.
We have already harvested two of these beautiful tasty cabbages.😋
The Brussels Sprout (Brodie) have shot up over the last couple of weeks. Looking really strong and healthy (right)
Peas (Early Onward) were sown directly into the soil.
A structure with a net was erected for the peas to grow up.
I will let them get to about a foot tall – they are pretty much there now! Then I 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. They are now heading off up the wigwam poles at pace.
The Broad Beans (The Sutton) are doing well. Lots of flowers now. These will soon turn into lovely broad beans.
I have sown some Carrot (Amsterdam Forcing) directly into the soil.
I have put a carrot fly preventative netting across the top of them. You can now easily 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, and added to them the ones grown in the greenhouse.
They are all looking really good and growing quickly, now that the birds have been banned from eating them!
I have direct sown Spinach (Perpetual) seeds directly into the raised-bed. To these, I have added the plants grown in the greenhouse.
Also planted out are some Rainbow Chard which were also grown in the greenhouse and hardened off in the cold frame.
They are looking good and growing nicely.
The Shallots “Longor” were also planted out in March. They are also looking great and doing well. They have had their winter cover removed. (Left)
They are now starting to divide into their “cloves” Right). 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 are getting towards the end of their growing period now and starting to look a bit tatty. The leaves should start browning off soon, then it will be harvest time.
I had sown Parsnip Countess directly into the raised bed just before the last posting. No signs of any growth yet!
The Seed Potatoes (Picasso) were chitted in the greenhouse from January and planted out in April.
They are growing away nicely and are looking really healthy (left).
Winter cabbages (Tundra) (right). Looking great! 😊
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) still have loads of white flowers everywhere (left).
Lots of wee strawberries forming now (right)
It wont be long until we are gorging on fabulous strawberries (hopefully 🤞!).
The Redcurrants are forming on the redcurrant bushes. They are almost to full size now and some are starting to get a reddish hue now (right)
The Gooseberries are forming on the bushes (left). Also getting close to full size, but not softening up yet.
These are the green gooseberries. We also have red gooseberries.
Apples are starting to form on the trees and getting bigger.
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 