How to Grow Ginger

Do you want to know how to grow ginger in your garden? Having ginger in your backyard is beneficial for several reasons. You can use it to treat upset stomach, mouth ulcers, and constipation. Its healing properties work wonders for helping soothe irritation and inflammation. While you can cook with it by adding it to some of your favorite foods, it’s also something you can use to make flavorful beverages.

Because ginger is such a beneficial ingredient to have at home, it makes sense that you’d want to know how to grow it. If you’re growing it, you won’t need to buy it at the store. Use this guide to grow ginger in no time. My favorite garden gloves: Digz Grip Latex-Free Coated Garden Gloves, Medium

How To Grow Ginger

Soak Your Rhizomes

When it comes to planting most crops, you need seeds. However, you won’t use seeds to grow ginger. Instead, you’re going to have rhizomes! The rhizomes are the brown, rough pieces that you usually see at the store when shopping for ginger. The rhizomes are part of a root stem that then generates new plants in your soil.

You can buy these at the grocery store or order them online. Before you can plant the rhizome in the soil, you’ll need to allow them to soak in water to soften. Be sure to leave them in the water for a minimum of eight hours. If possible, let the rhizomes soak overnight.

Choose the Ideal Spot to Plant the Ginger

Before you begin the planting process, you need to choose the right spot for your ginger. It’s normal for ginger to thrive in areas where the climate is humid and warm. You’re going to need to make sure the plant gets plenty of sunlight, but they can do ok if grown in areas that are slightly shady part of the day.

When choosing a spot in your garden, don’t select an area covered in tree leaves or a site that gets shady too often. You want to make sure your ginger gets the sunlight that it needs to continue thriving for months on end.

Use the Ideal Soil and Space the Rhizome Perfectly

Be sure to select the proper soil for your rhizomes. Use loose loamy soil containing lots of organic matter. If you’re into composting, it’s an excellent time to use that compost to get your ginger to grow. The compost will improve the quality of your soil and increase your chances of getting more than enough ginger out of your planted rhizomes. The soil should have a pH level of anywhere between 5.5 and 6.5, if you want to get a soil ph test kit to check it out.

After selecting the soil that you’ll use for growing ginger, it’s time to start planting those rhizomes. You’ll need to plant them a minimum of six inches apart, but it’s best to leave roughly eight inches of space between the rhizomes when planting them in the soil. Some people suggest planting one plant in a one-square-foot area. The rhizomes thrive best when placed a minimum of one inch deep into the soil and a maximum of two to three inches deep.

You don’t want them too close to the surface, but you also don’t want to bury them too deep into the soil such that they’re not growing because they’re not getting the water and sunlight needed.

Get on a Watering Schedule

It would help if you got on a watering schedule to encourage ginger plants to grow. You don’t need to water them nearly as often as you’ll need to water other plants. However, when you’re adding water to your ginger plants, you need to add enough of it to get deep within the soil. Be sure to water the plants deeply at least once per week. 

Once you select a day and time for watering, it’s a good idea to get in the habit of watering your ginger at that same time each week. Don’t allow the soil to get too dry. If it’s dry, it’s not going to provide the rhizomes with what they need to survive and eventually grow into large pieces of ginger for you to harvest.

Have Patience When Growing Ginger

Some plants harvest within 30-90 days of getting planted in the soil. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case for ginger. You’ll need to have patience if you want to have an abundance of ginger growing in your garden. The plant typically takes a minimum of eight months to reach maturity to the point that you could harvest it and put it to use.

There are even times when it takes a bit longer than eight months. While it does require patience, it’s worth it once you have the ginger growing in your yard and can use it for many things. In case you missed this post, Dehydrating Ginger and Make Ginger Powder

Know When It’s the Right Time to Harvest Your Ginger

Please pay close attention to your ginger plants to keep track of when they’re ready to be harvested. Not only can you tell by the amount of time you’ve maintained the plant, but also by using visuals to see how well the plant blossoms over time. Once it’s ready for you to harvest, you can cut off a piece of the rhizome and continue growing the rest of the ginger, or you can dig up the plant and remove it from the soil, using it at home to make all kinds of things.

What are Some of the Benefits of Knowing How to Grow Ginger?

Ginger is a wonderful plant to have growing in your backyard garden. It may seem like a complicated plant to grow because it takes a long time before it reaches maturity and gets harvested, but it doesn’t require too much maintenance. You’ll need to provide the correct type of soil and plenty of water once a week, but other than that, taking care of the plant isn’t hard.

Once you know how to properly grow ginger and begin seeing the fruits of your labor, you’ll enjoy these benefits:

• Prepare hot ginger tea for soothing the stomach, fighting colds, and naturally healing inflammation.
• Use ginger to create flavorful foods, including soups, stews, and rice dishes containing ginger as an essential ingredient.
• Take a natural approach to treat various health conditions and ailments at home with ginger as a primary ingredient because of its medicinal properties.

What are Some of The Main Health Benefits from Eating Ginger?

Ginger contains gingerols that have been shown to be a powerful anti-inflammatory. Those who have arthritis have seen a reduction in the pain they normally experience. Studies have also shown that your immune system can be boosted, and certain cancers show lower cell growth in patients eating ginger.

How Big Should the Root be When Planting Ginger?

You really don’t need a large root rhizome to get a quality plant. If properly planted, watered, otherwise cared for, they grow steadily and even can have small sections gently cut off for home use during the growing season. It is important to check out the rhizome to make sure it doesn’t have anything that looks like fungus growing before you plant it. If in doubt, throw it out.

Final Word

If you’ve got the soil ready and the rhizomes soaking overnight, you’re almost ready to plant them and grow ginger. Have patience, stick with a watering schedule, and make sure you’re using organic matter on your soil to keep your ginger growing! May God Bless this world, Linda.

Copyright Images: Ginger Deposit photos_6028292_s-2019