Growing Sugar Cane!

Matron loves to try growing new and exotic things on her patch! Well, I couldn't resist buying a length of sugar cane in the market and giving it a go!. I have heard that it is possible to grow sugar cane in a pot in a greenhouse here, so I looked up the cultivation instructions on the internet.

On this piece, at each joint there happens to be a little new shoot already. Cultivation instructions suggest cutting the cane into lengths which contain 2 or 3 shoots.

So I cut the cane with a saw, and soaked them in water for several hours. Apparently they are sown on their sides where the new shoots grow up vertically.

So I covered them in some seed compost with some vermiculite to ensure good drainage, and I have left them covered up in a heated propagator in the greenhouse. Watch this space.

Fruit and Veg

Well it really was a case of too much to do and too little time to do it! Just a couple of days in Madeira wasn't enough. One of my favourite places in the world is the fruit and veg market in Funchal. Baskets of locally grown exotic fruit and veg just waiting to be eaten.

These custard apples are just a world away from the hard green efforts that you can sometimes buy here. All the fruit in Madeira is ripe and sweet and out of this world!

After all that shopping Matron just had to put her feet up for a while, sip some Madeira wine and watch the ships sail into the harbour!

I had time to fit in a helecopter flight round the island too! Matron just loves helecopters!

I have always called this the 'Labrador Market' but the Mercado dos Lavradores is the Portugese name for the main market in Funchal. Leo pricked up his ears when I told him there was a Labrador market in Madeira!

Though Matron did make a few friends among the strays walking the streets out there!

A trip to the Botanical Garden was fascinating, alongside the flowers (Matron does not do flowers) there was an edible garden. Amazing to see how coffee, bananas, guavas and sugar cane grow. I managed to bring back a length of sugar cane which I will attempt to grow in a pot in the greenhouse. Bob Flowerdew has managed it, so Matron will humbly follow in his footsteps and have a go! More later!

Filling the Hungry Gap!

By all accounts I am lucky to have purple sprouting broccoli this year. The cold Winter seems to have devastated the commercial crops but a few of my early PSB 'Rudolph' have done quite well. This is one of the better shows, early pickings like this are tender and tasty. Leave them a few weeks more and they can become fibrous and chewy. I will certainly leave one of the plants to flower because the bees just adore PSB flowers! If you get a chance to let any of your brassicas go to flower then please do! You will encourage the bees to come and pollinate the rest of your patch.

My Bishop's Kiss chilli are continuing to grow nicely in the heated propagator in the greenhouse. They need such a long growing season they are one of the few things that has to be planted this early. I am probably going to plant a few tomato seeds next week.

Another little experiment in Matron's greenhouse is this first early new potato 'Rocket'. I planted it in a pot in the heated propagator a few weeks ago. I will keep re-potting it and I hope to have an early crop of new potatoes at Easter! Just about the time when the seed potatoes will be going in the ground outdoors! The traditional time to plant new potatoes according to the garden calendar is Good Friday!

Matron is off to the sunny island of Madeira for a couple of days sunshine and luxury. Baxoon!