Growing Ginger

[TheBigD]

After a long time considering making a ginger beer but always being put off by the cost of ginger at over $26kg I thought id have a crack at growing it and after some research I discovered its piss easy. So after purchasing a healthy looking chunk from woollies and planted it some weeks ago in a medium size pot I've now got my first sprout.

Ginger basically grows from a rhizome over the summer months similar to hops and the root harvested when the foliage starts to die off.

I did a forum search and I didn't find much on this topic so id thought id make a post just to remind any newbies that may be put off by the cost of ginger just how easy it is to propagate grow and harvest ginger in pots or your garden over the summer months.

anyway here's a pic

 

[manticle]

Timely. Planted some myself yesterday. Complete beginner but had done some recent reading about how easy it is. Will see in coming weeks.

 

[Bomber Watson]

Heres mine as of 5 minutes ago.

Much the same, I got the idea from here:

http://www.tropicalpermaculture.com/growing-ginger.html

Same same, just got a nice plump looking Rizome of about 250gm or so from the local green grocer (only $19 a kilo, suck **** ) when i was grabbing ginger for my kit style ginger beer, broke it up, and shoved it in potting mix.

I planted it way to early, was like May or something, so just coming into winter, and didnt think it was doing anything, kept feeling around and sussing out the rizomes, had them sitting in full sun to get some warmth, didnt do much, did see a few of the horny bits starting to grow a bit of ****, was about to chuck them out when i went for a dig one day and noticed they were stuck, had started shooting root, this would have been about August...Let them sit for another couple of weeks and had sprouts, so moved them into the shadey spot there in now since then.

Knowing what i know now, i would have planted them around August....This is for CQ, so a bit hotter than other locales.

From what i gather from the above link you should ignore them for the first year, or more, and harvest after a fair stay.

Cheers.

 

[Trevandjo]

Good topic. I love ginger beer and piss easy projects.

 

[Mardoo]

And there are different edible species of ginger with different flavors. Getting rhizomes in Oz might be hard though. Just young ginger alone might have enough of a flavor difference to be interesting. Pickled young ginger. Yum!

 

[TheBigD]

Awesome people! What originally got me thinking was after cooking a stir fry Id left a piece on the bench which after a week had started to shoot, so off I went to youtube lol, I did originally plant this piece but it seemed to die in the ass so I turfed it for a fresher piece. I've been waiting very patiently for this sprout and hopefully looking forward to posting some harvest pics down the track.

 

[HBHB]

And gingers ain't gingers either. We have several types growing here from beehive styles, variegated and the straight commercial variety. Not all are edible apparently. And there's a huge difference in flavours between varieties.

 

[Bomber Watson]

Showoff ^

 

[manticle]

Love to get some galangal going.

 

[Ciderman]

Love to get some galangal going.

It grows year round rather than dying off like ginger.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

A little OT....lemon grass is easy to grow but keep it in a pot or it will choke your garden

 

[Bomber Watson]

Yep my lemon grass grows like....Well...Grass.......

 

[Mardoo]

Yeah, I tasted my way through all the Hawaiian wild gingers I found when I was there. The worst of them was not bad, the best, sublime. However most of them had, officially, unknown edibility, so I didn't go apeshit with the tasting.

Three words: ginger flower lei.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Love to get some galangal going.

Easy to grow if you find a plant, got mine from a Vietnamese market stallholder who are selling plants
Ginger is easy to grow but if you want a lot stick it directly into the garden.

 

[TheBigD]

I'm curious to know has anyone used galangal in brews?

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Tumeric is also easy to grow

 

[manticle]

Easy to grow if you find a plant, got mine from a Vietnamese market stallholder who are selling plants
Ginger is easy to grow but if you want a lot stick it directly into the garden.

IMG_0138.jpg

So not like ginger in that you can't stick a piece in the ground and wait?

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I would presume that would work, never really thought about growing galangal until I saw the plants the Vietnamese woman was selling. Its true that it does not die back like ginger but the woman I bought it off said not to let it get too wet, so it is in a good sheltered spot.

 

[manticle]

I might have a crack next time I grab some. Pain in the arse to peel, unlike young ginger but such an amazing flavour. Got a very healthy vietnamese mint plant out the back so should be a good companion.

 

[indica86]

Galangal, turmeric and ginger all going nuts in my garden. I bought the rhizomes from the markets and stuck them in the ground.
Ginger and turmeric die off and come back around september where I am. Galangal keeps on going.

First time don't harvest a lot but divide and replant. Next year you will have heaps. So nice walking around the backyard and digging up enough stuff for a thai curry paste.

 

[HBHB]

A few different varieties. The one with red undersides has gone feral in the undergrowth of the Palm grove. It's thrown pups up to 4 m from it's original planting spot. The one in the tub is the commercial one mostly found in supermarkets beehive variety got cut back during winter and hasn't shown itself yet.

 

[indica86]

What has your dog been smoking?

 

[Rod]

Love to get some galangal going.

my galangal grows like a weed

cut it back very year to keep it in control

and young is best

saw you were in Fairfield and thought I would drop some off , then saw you are in Vic not NSW

 

[manticle]

Cheers anyway. Appreciate the thought.
No longer fairfield vic either but I guess north carlton won't make me much more local.

 

[Mardoo]

Who'd a thunk this would be such an awesome thread. Love it. Keep it coming!

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

AHB...where occasionally someone mentions beer

 

[jyo]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rHsruGvmTiQ

This has been on the list of things to do for ages. Check out these guys, they are doing something right.

 

[LiquidGold]

Good thread, here's my ginger crop. I've also had some shoots show up from some I planted in the ground in the middle of winter which I'd given up on a long time ago.

 

[niftinev]

My ginger doesen't die off in winter grows all year round as does my galangal, when i want some i just cut off a portion with a nice sharp spade and dig out leaving the main rhizome to just keep growing, both plants are about 1m in diameter so always have plenty on hand and only use new growth (2 years and under) about to dig out half of each up as they are getting too big .
Have been growing both for about five years so doen't use the original rhizome parts as i think they would be far to woody, They just grow and grow and grow, now taking up to much of the vege garden

 

[Red Baron]

I'm curious to know has anyone used galangal in brews?

I've got a massive galangal plant, and it occurred to me after reading this thread that I should give galangal beer a go. When I get around to it i'll report back.

Cheers,
RB.