Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Ginger finally!

I've tried growing ginger every year. I was always too impatient with ginger though. As soon as spring arrived, I put the rhizome in the pot and watered it like mad, knowing that ginger loves moisture, right?

Well it loves moisture, but it can rot with too much - especially if the heat isn't there to take it up. That's what happened to former plants. After nearly killing off the next lot, I put them in a pot I intended to treat like royalty. Just enough water, indirect sunlight and plenty of heat - compliments of summer.

 March 2015


To my surprise I got stems which weren't showing yellow tips (lovely green ones instead) but also the clumps started to expand. I knew this when the initial plastic pot they were planted in, started to buckle. I used all my larger pots for fruit trees, and I didn't want to buy plastic, if I could recycle something instead.


 March 2015


That's where 10 litre plastic mayonnaise buckets, my husband brought home from work, came in handy. They had lost their handles from living outdoors, but made the perfect size to transplant my ginger all the same.

So now is the telling of how well that ginger has grown.


July 2015


The pictures aren't that great, because I had to race outside to harvest some ginger, to put in my lime marmalade I was cooking at the time. But it was a pretty substantial haul. I started with about 4 small pieces, and one of them turned into this...


A hand of ginger!


This was the biggest rhizome. I grated some ginger for my marmalade, and also added some to my Thai soup I made the other night - along with some freshly grown coriander. Talk about winter warmers! Nothing beats Thai soup and the tingling sensation of fresh ginger.

I'm now thinking of how I can create the best conditions in the garden for ginger to grow, because I don't want to be limited by the space in pots any more. Time to do some research.

If you want to know more about growing ginger, I found this article simple to read but full of all the important points.

If you're more a visual person, I found a video which shows how easy it is to grow ginger in containers. She has extremely fat rhizomes, which I think is due to her use of compost. Everything grows bigger in compost!






Or perhaps maybe she is growing a different variety of ginger, I certainly think its big and beautiful though!

Ginger, ginger, GINGER! Its soooo worth it.


7 comments:

  1. Oh, I'm so envious! I've tried to grow ginger a couple of times, in a pot, in the polyhouse, but it never grows. I have a pot in there at the moment with a bit of rhizome that sprouted in the cupboard. It's in good compost and not getting any water at the moment. I'm hoping that it hasn't rotted, but don't dare to poke around and see. I'm hopeful it will put up some leaves in spring. It did put up one, after I planted it, but it's died back, presumably for the winter. I also have a pot with some turmeric in it; I'm hoping that will survive too.

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  2. I wouldn't add water, unless the soil is really dry, and then only enough to damp the soil. I suspect what killed my earlier attempts was watering too much, BEFORE, the heat of summer, and humidity (the wet season brings) came into full effect. You really need those 3 things together for ginger to grow - heat, moisture and humidity.

    At one point, I was spritzing the leafs with water, before the rains arrived, even though the heat was well and truly there. I kept it where I would visit the pot every day during summer, which was on the edge of the verandah with the rest of my potted plants. Perhaps the concrete nearby, helped increase the temperature. I also had the pot up on a brick, so the cool air from the shaded earth, could flow underneath.

    I also surrounded it with other pot plants, so it received some dappled shade. I suspect this companionship with other plants created humidity - along with watering nearly every day, is what made them do so well this time. I also have tumeric I'm trying out this year (and yacon which died) so here's hoping we both do well.

    I'm a firm believer, if you find the right spot, plants that shouldn't grow in your area, will.

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    1. Thanks. I'll bear those tips in mind, especially about the humidity...something we don't get down here in our summers.

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  3. I have tried to grow it indoors and it worked but it died out after a short time. I did the same with turmeric root. I suppose if I had a better indoor environment to offer it would of worked out better. I'm happy to see yours did though!

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    1. Sorry for the late reply. I needed some net-free time to catch up on things. I wonder if the ginger would have re-shooted? Its meant to die back when the weather gets cold, but unless the rhizome has rotted away, it will put out new growth again.

      I've made the mistake of adding water too soon - before the day time temperatures got hot enough and the night time temps, warmer too. I think that's what made the rhizome rot before it could re-shoot.

      I have managed to kill tumeric too though! ;) I've bought some more to try again this year. I'm completely laying off the water, until I see new shoots emerge. Which probably won't be for a few more months. In the meantime, I give a light mist on the surface of the soil only, once a week.

      I gave up on ginger and tumeric when I killed them the first time, but tried again. Maybe (if its not too expensive) you could try again too. Though I have read ginger doesn't really grow in colder climates - it does, but not enough to harvest a crop. If you managed to build a small greenhouse, out of recycled materials (just enough for the ginger) it may surprise you!

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  4. Hey Chris,
    i am happy to hear that your staying at Gully Grove and look forward to popping in (when the Internet is working) and seeing lots more of your adventures.
    we are in Sydney at the moment, well for another week or so and can post and visit all my fav blogs when ever i want. its funny how many things you take for granted when they come easy and then when they are gone how you dont really miss them all that much.
    thanks for sticking with me it is great to hear from you, im just sorry i can't always answer.
    I also had a hard time when i first planted ginger, now i treat it like garlic, just enough water to start then pretty much forget it till harvest time. different for you tho as you have a lot hotter weather than we did in the mountains.
    i see you have been really busy, im off to take a look at all your projects

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    1. Hi Nicole and thanks for dropping by. I know you guys are busy with your new place, and it sounded like mobile reception and electricity, were things that needed working on. I hope you're enjoying your time in Sydney, and look forward to following your new property development. :)

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