Thursday, March 8, 2012

Experiment: Ginger (Zingiber officinale)

We went from this (July 2011) - planted in mid-April 2011.


















To this (November 2011)



















 




To this (March 2012) - I had planted the equivalent of about half of one of these pieces.  As such, I would say growing ginger was a success.  Now all I need to do is break off some of the pieces and re-plant.

6 comments:

Ally said...

Very interesting. Will you be saving some to eat? Do you think it would have done as well if we didn't have such a mild winter?

katina said...

Ally - Yes, I will probably save some to eat, but I definitely plan to replant so I can have some next year.

The way it's supposed to work is all the green should turn yellow and fall off - then you're to store it in a cool, dry location watering the dirt only once a month or so. Protect from freezes. dig up the ginger in February. I actually still have one green stalk, and I think it's because it's been so mild.

I do know that it isn't supposed to do nearly as well if planted in the ground down here.

Caroline said...

How cool is THAT! Did you use store-bought ginger?

katina said...

@Caroline - Yes I did.

Johanna : ) said...

How awesome is that! I love ginger and use it a lot in cooking. Thanks for giving me another idea to try.

Why do you think it doesn't do as well planted in the ground? Is a raised bed considered more like "in the ground" or "in a pot"?

katina said...

Johanna - you could probably do it in a raised bed. The reason I did it in a pot is because I figured I could move a pot to where ever the ginger was happiest - it doesn't seem like like Texas full sun. PLUS, it's easier to move it in and out during freezes if it's in a pot.

I forgot to post it on this blog entry, but if you google "growing ginger + tropical permaculture" the first link I get is the one that has the directions that I followed.