My Climate Change Garden

I popped round to see what has been happening in The Village allotments in the Meads, Eastbourne and bumped into a very interesting guy called Jo. I was actually admiring his impressive sweet corn – or maize as he calls it – and he explained that he had grown them from seed sent to him by his mum who lives in Madeira. She sent the seed from her own maize that grew in her garden in summer 2008. He planted them in his UK allotment in March  2009 and now he has an impressive display of very healthy and tall looking Madeiran maize plants.They have certainly done  much better than the english varieties on the neighbouring plots.

Jo then showed me see his squash and marrow – also grown using Madeiran seed – and they too were very impressive. Then, he revealed his chilli plants , full of beautiful bright red chillis and healthy leaves.

Jo obviously knows a thing or two about gardening so I am sure his expertise is a major reason that the crops look so good. But, water is a big issue on the Village allotment – there is no mains and being exposed to the sun all day it gets very dry. The Madeiran varieties were obviously well adapted to dry and hot weather conditions so had not found it a problem.

Think I might ask Jo for some Madeiran seeds to see if I can have the same results next year –  or, maybe I should pop over myself to gather some – any excuse for a holiday!