How to Grow Ginger in Your Garden
Ginger seems like an exotic spice from a faraway place. I used it for many years before realizing how easy it is to grow ginger in your garden. My moment of epiphany occurred one year when crystallized ginger inexplicably became hard to get. When I did find a source, the ginger was tough and lacked gingery punch.
So began my quest to learn how to grow my own ginger (Zingiber Officinale). Turns out it’s extremely easy. My first successful year I harvested more ginger than I knew what to do with. But getting to that point wasn’t easy, because of the misinformation I encountered along the way.
One bit of misinformation was that the root, which is technically a rhizome, should be cut or broken into small nubs. Another is that the nubs should be planted 2 to 6 inches deep, depending on who’s talking. Well, I tried planting nubs at various depths from 2 to 6 inches, but they always rotted in the potting soil.
Then I read that plants rarely grow from ginger purchased at the grocery store, so I thought that was the problem. But that turned out not to be true. When I couldn’t find a nursery source, I decided to make one final attempt with a rhizome from the produce department.
Success Growing Ginger
This time I purchased a nice plump hand of ginger — just like one I would buy for culinary use — and left it whole. I rehydrated the ginger by soaking it overnight in a bowl of warm water. Then I did not bury it in the soil. I nestled it into the soil with the top visible.
And I didn’t use potting soil. I had learned that ginger is a heavy feeder, so I filled the pot with straight compost. To my utter amazement, in February a little green nubbin appeared, and by April it had grown into a green stalk. So that’s the way I have successfully planted ginger from then on.
After danger of frost has past here on our Tennessee farm, I transplant the ginger into a partially sunny spot in my garden, away from wind, and surround it with mulch to keep the soil moist and weeds at bay. The plant keeps sending up new shoots all summer long.
The first year I grew ginger, it didn’t develop any flowers. So imagine my surprise the second year when the plants sprouted green club-like growths that eventually opened into raggedly looking yellow snap-dragon-like blossoms.
Harvesting Ginger
Gardeners in a no-frost zone (zone 8 or above) can grow ginger outdoors all year long. But winter days in Tennessee sometimes bring freezing weather, and a hard frost can permanently damage ginger. So in the fall I dig up my plants before first frost. They are mostly green stems and leaves, with pink rhizomes — not brown, like in the store.
The first thing I do is select a few choice rhizomes to pot for the next growing season. A 14-inch pot will accommodate three rhizomes to be transplanted in the spring. If you intend to leave the ginger in the pot, each rhizome needs its own pot.
Leaves and shoots must be removed, but needn’t be discarded. They’re edible, too, chopped fine and used as a mildly ginger-flavored garnish.
After washing the roots, I separate them and cure them for 2 weeks in a cool, dark place (the garage). At that point, the skin does turn brown, like in the store. Whole, unpeeled ginger may be stored in a cool pantry for about a week. In an airtight bag in the fridge, it’ll keep for about a month. In the freezer it keeps indefinitely, or at least until it’s all used up.
Meanwhile, the ginger nestled in pots — at room temperature and in a windowsill that gets morning sun — are lightly misted with water every morning. After a few weeks any shoots left on the rhizome turn brown and fall away. The first time that happened, I thought I had killed the plant. But come February, the rhizomes sport tiny green nubbins, and by April they sprout into green spiky stalks.
Ginger is now a staple in my garden. It’s a heat tolerant — an excellent feature during our hot Tennessee summers — and low maintenance plant. You, too, can successfully grow ginger in your garden by starting with a plump ginger root from the grocery store.
