How to Grow Ginger

Asian cooks prize ginger not only for its tasty, bulbous roots, but also for its young, grasslike stems. Unless you live in the hottest part of the United States (USDA zone 10), you'll have to grow this tender herb in a pot and bring it indoors in cold weather.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Bypass Pruners
• Compost Makers
• Fertilizers
• Garden Spades
• Garden Trowels
• Planting Containers
• Potting Soil
• Ginger Roots

Growing Ginger in a Container

1. Buy fresh ginger roots at a grocery store or an Asian market. Look for fat tubers with numerous buds.
2. Plant ginger in spring when you can supply warm enough temperatures, whether indoors or out. The dormant tubers will sprout only when the mercury hits 75 to 85 degrees F.
3. Use a container that's about 14 inches across and 12 inches deep and has excellent drainage. This size will hold three average-size tubers comfortably.
4. Fill the container with potting soil enriched with plenty of compost.
5. Soak the tubers in warm water overnight, then set them in the pot just below the soil surface, spacing them evenly, with the buds facing up.
6. Set the container in light shade, indoors or out, depending on the temperature.
7. Water lightly at first, then more heavily when growth starts. Keep plants dry in winter, when they're dormant.
8. Move plants outside only when the temperatures have reached 50 degrees F. In cooler weather, growth can be stunted.
9. Shield plants from high winds, and move them indoors at the first sign of cool temperatures.
10. Expect plants to reach maturity, and a height of 2 to 4 feet, in 10 months to a year.
11. Dig up new, young sprouts that appear in front of the main plants (they form their own tubers), use what you need, and freeze or replant the rest.
12. Clip young, tender stems anytime.

Growing Ginger Outdoors in USDA Zone 10

13. Buy fresh ginger roots at a grocery store or an Asian market. Look for fat tubers with numerous buds.
14. Choose a lightly shaded site with rich, moist but well-drained soil. Work in plenty of compost to ensure the right combination.
15. Plant ginger in spring when temperatures are 75 to 85 degrees F. Soak the tubers in warm water overnight, then set them just under the soil surface with the buds facing up.
16. Water lightly at first, then more heavily when growth starts.
17. Shield plants from high winds, and cover them if temperatures dip lower than normal.
18. Expect plants to reach maturity, and a height of 2 to 4 feet, in 10 months to a year.
19. Dig up new, young sprouts that appear in front of the main plants (they form their own tubers), use what you need, and freeze or replant the rest.
20. Clip young, tender stems anytime.

Tips & Warnings

• In its native tropics, where ginger is grown commercially, the foliage withers after about 10 months and the roots are harvested.
• If you grow ginger in a greenhouse, you might be treated to its seldom-seen blooms: exotic-looking, usually pink flowers that resemble miniature pineapples.
• Don't confuse the herb ginger (Zingiber officinale) with wild ginger (Asarum canadense), which is a hardy ornamental ground cover.

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