This site is an archive of ChiotsRun.com. For the latest information about Susy and her adventrures, visit the Cultivate Simple site.
Thank you for all your support over the years!

Homegrown Ginger

October 15th, 2011

Remember back when I told you about my experiment to plant some ginger roots last spring? It sprouted well and grew all last summer. I brought it inside for the winter and I actually thought it died because the green tops all died. In the spring, I put it back outside to see if it would sprout again. It did, and this summer it grew into a fairly nice plant over the summer. So I’m guessing it might just go dormant over the winter like many other plants.


I’m considering repotting it into a larger pot, and am especially curious to see how big the roots have gotten. Maybe I’ll wait to see if it dies back again this winter and repot at that time. It certainly will be nice to use some of my own homegrown fresh ginger in some tea!

Any interesting plant experiments going on in your garden?

17 Comments to “Homegrown Ginger”
  1. Gwen on October 15, 2011 at 5:05 am

    Ginger is such a pretty plant. I had no idea!

    No real experiments yet, just waiting for things to grow. The true experiment will be canning chutney for the first time later this year, if all goes to plan!

    Reply to Gwen's comment

  2. Dani on October 15, 2011 at 5:15 am

    Reckon you should take the ginger out of the pot :) You may find that it has completely overtaken the pot, judging from the amount of shoots you have.

    I planted ginger in November last year, and harvested it at the end of August, when the leaves died back. Even the large pot that I planted it in was too small :( I have replanted some of the ginger (with roots) into a MUCH bigger pot for next year :)

    If you’re interested in another way to propagate ginger it’s on my blog at this link: http://ecofootprintsa.blogspot.com/2010/10/ginger-zingiber-officinale.html and an update here : http://ecofootprintsa.blogspot.com/2010/11/ginger-zingiber-officinale-update.html

    Am so thrilled that I have finally manage to grow my own ginger!

    Reply to Dani's comment

    • Susy on October 16, 2011 at 8:42 am

      Thanks for the links – will definitely head on over and read about your adventures in growing ginger.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  3. KimH on October 15, 2011 at 8:35 am

    The only thing I have going on that could be considered a plant experiment is that a friend gave me 2 pawpaws this past week & Im considering trying to grow one from seed. Crazy, but kinda fun too. ;)

    Reply to KimH's comment

  4. goatpod2 on October 15, 2011 at 8:52 am

    We planted pak choi and mache this year which we just planted last week.

    Amy

    Reply to goatpod2's comment

  5. Grannie M on October 15, 2011 at 9:40 am

    Reading your post and responses has me excited about trying several new things again next year! I tried rice two years ago using organic rice. I did get it to sprout, but didn’t follow through with planting. Now that I’m a little more settled into my gardening life, I would like to try it again next spring. I will order seed this time and really read up and think about the best way to get a small crop. I don’t expect big results. I just want to taste a bowl of truly fresh rice once and say I did it.

    Reply to Grannie M's comment

    • Susy on October 16, 2011 at 8:45 am

      That would be fun, I keep considering letting my overwintered rye cover crop set seed to harvest, but usually I need the space to plant something else. Someday when I have a larger garden many more experiments will be in order!

      Reply to Susy's comment

  6. Lee on October 15, 2011 at 11:09 am

    It’s been growing for two years so you can definitely harvest some ginger. After digging it up, cut off a few small ends with roots and plant them back right away. That’s what I do every year around November.

    Reply to Lee's comment

    • Susy on October 16, 2011 at 8:46 am

      Thanks for the tip, will do here pretty soon.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  7. pam on October 15, 2011 at 5:21 pm

    I am sooo going to start some ginger!

    Reply to pam's comment

  8. itchbay on October 15, 2011 at 6:36 pm

    I bought a large ginger plant at the county fair this summer. I bought it because the flower was lovely and I though the plant would compliment my yellow canna. It went into a bit of decline just after being planted, but has since bounced back and even sent out about 8 or 10 new sprouts.

    I don’t think mine is the same as yours, though.

    Reply to itchbay's comment

  9. Miranda on October 15, 2011 at 7:01 pm

    Ginger Bread!

    Reply to Miranda's comment

    • Susy on October 16, 2011 at 8:47 am

      That’s exactly what I’m thinking on this cold breezy fall morning!

      Reply to Susy's comment

  10. Sincerely, Emily on October 15, 2011 at 7:07 pm

    Your plant is pretty. I have to laugh because we had Herb Market in San Antonio today and I saw ginger plants (a first for me). I found out the one I have is ornamental (not edible – dang it!). My friend bought the last edible one so I am hoping for a bit of root when it gets larger. I am conducting lots of plant experiments right now… planting in the front yard hoping the deer won’t eat it (that is one big experiment since the deer eat the deer resistant plants in my area!)

    Reply to Sincerely, Emily's comment

  11. Leonor Miller on October 16, 2011 at 5:07 am

    Can you give me some tips on how to plant ginger? I never imagined that it was hard to plant a ginger. Because I have some vegetable plants in our backyard but we don’t have ginger.

    Reply to Leonor Miller's comment

  12. Grace on October 17, 2011 at 2:46 pm

    Planting my own ginger is one of those things I think about, but haven’t gotten too yet. I had no idea it was such a pretty green plant.

    Reply to Grace's comment

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

Admin
Read previous post:
More @ChiotsRun @EthelGloves

I started this blog many years ago to help me keep track of my garden, kind of like a garden...

Close