Ginger and Tumeric – How to grow these Super Roots

A few years back I said to myself , we use a lot of ginger in our home and I should look into growing it. It was only last year I eventually bit the bullet and got to it.

Here in our lovely temperate Irish weather it is not alway possible to grow everything outside, I decided it would live inside by a sunny warm window in our home ( I know it’s not on my Balcony Garden but it’s very close). So last May I bought some Organic Ginger and got to work.

Now is the perfect time of the year ( April / May) to get it started as the days are longer and the sun is coming out more. Also it is starting to get warmer which it needs to thrive.

It turned out to be a very easy process and one I will now always do as long as I have a sunny window to place it on.

If you live in warmer climates please try your hand at growing it out side. It does not tolerate any cold or frost though, so I would ideally grow it in pots so that you can move it in for the winter.

When buying the ginger you need to make sure it’s as fresh as possible and has lots of nodules on it. These are where the root sprouts up and down from.  You soak the best of the roots in good water for 24 hours to get the root ready for sprouting. If you have ever left ginger on your counter for a long time you will have noticed the roots starting to grow them selves.

Once soaked for 24 hours the next step is to plant it in soil. Use the best soil you can get and a wide top pot with good drainage. I recommend a plastic pot if your growing inside as terracotta gets very mouldy. Fill it with soil to the top leaving about 2 inches from the top. Place the ginger root on top of the soil and press in to the soil so it is half in and half out of the soil. You should be able to see the root on the soil but a little buried.

 

Keep the root and soil well watered but not sitting in standing water. When watering, the soil some times tends to cover the root, a little soil is ok but if it is completely buried just wipe some of it away. It takes them  year to mature and produce more ginger root, so be patient. I feed them with organic or very good quality fertiliser once a month to keep them healthy..

It did take a few week for the first of the shoots to grow but once they did they took off like a shot. Some even grew to over 1 meter. They love the sun and the heat so please keep them happy and you will have a lovely house plant and after a year or so  you will be able to pull up you ginger. It hasn’t been quite the year for my ginger yet but when it is I will be overjoyed and I will of course share it with you all. I have read that they Flower, so I’m looking forward to that. Also at night after a hot day they produce a lovely dew on the leaves that smells and tastes divine.

We use ginger in a lot of our cooking and I use it to make fermented drinks I call my Soda Bugs. I will do a full post on them very soon.

Recently I planted Turmeic in exactly the same way and it only took them 2 weeks to produce a love leafy shoot.

They grow faster than ginger and produce roots ten fold. I feel I will have tumeric over flow by the summer’s end.

 

How nice is it to be able to grow something in your home that normally only grows in the hottest of countries!!!!

They are so nutritious and help your body and mind in many ways, how can you not grow them.

I don’t have a lot of plant in my house but these few make me feel good all over when I see them.

I will keep you updated as to the results of the crop over the next few months on Facebook and Instagram so keep posted.

I for one can’t wait.

Regards

Sarah