The double-dug cane bed was a good idea, and they all came up nicely after the soil warmed up in spring. Now I’ve got more sugarcane than I know what to do with. It’s a great problem to have.

After all frosts, I planted a 10 x 10 bed next door to the sugarcane with some boniato I’d started from the weird roots section of my local Publix supermarket. (Of course they don’t call it the “weird roots” section. It’s proper name is the “what in the heck are those freaky things” section.)

As the season progressed, the boniato flooded out from it’s original borders and has consumed about 500 square feet, including the sugarcane bed.

It seems quite happy among the canes, interestingly, making me think that it might be a good candidate for a planned ground cover in future sugar cane patches. I’m a little concerned that harvesting them will be difficult, but I’m guessing that after I machete down all the canes it’ll be fine. Meanwhile, the boniato is shading the ground and the sugar cane are giving the boniato a bit of a rest from the harsh sun.

An accidental sugarcane guild: sugarcane and boniato