Ginger in Melbourne?

I don’t drink coffee at breakfast time and I’ve given up conventional tea at that time in favour of herbal tea, usually using something I have growing in the garden. Anise Hyssop is nice if you like aniseed flavour (which I do) and Lemon Verbena rates highly, but my all-time favourite breakfast drink is a few slices of fresh ginger root and a teaspoon of honey in hot water.

The trouble is, ginger is so expensive and I’d love to grow my own but it’s primarily a plant of tropical climes and good ol’ Melbourne sure ain’t that, so when I learned that Suburban Tomato has managed to grow it here, I was determined to give it a go.

Last week I found some bits of ginger rhizome in the cupboard that had started to sprout tiny growth buds and it seemed silly not to plant them out:

I’ve put them into a polystyrene box in a really composty mix of oak leaves and other rotted stuff and will keep it in the polyhouse where it will be warm and humid:

Here’s hoping there will be a few cups of ginger tea in there.