The Ginger Diaries
Day 1 and 2 – the first steps
Yesterday I came across an article on how grow your own ginger.[i] That’s an idea that had been floating around in my mind for a while – without me doing anything about it. Reading this article gave me the push I needed.
Just a word of warning, don’t expect this to be the advice of a gardening guru. I haven’t got green fingers. I like pretty gardens, but I don’t like weeding. My interest in gardening comes in short, infrequent bursts. This is one of those moments, let’s see where it takes me.
I like ginger and use it quite a lot when cooking, in curries and stir fries. It is also a staple in the juice we make with breakfast over the weekend or on special days (as long as we have a bit of time on our hands) with apples, oranges, celery, cucumber, carrots and anything else which might be in season or in the house.
For the last few days, it has been raining without stopping. The experts say the soil should be wet when planting, which is definitely the case now. For today some dry breaks were predicted. This seemed to be ideal weather conditions to get started.
Yesterday, I set off to the local supermarket and bought some organic ginger. Hoping that the organic variety might have less of the chemicals mentioned in the article and therefore offer a better chance of success. The roots I bought showed some “eyes”, from which the plant will – hopefully – grow.
The original article recommends planting ginger in pots, but this seems to be written for a colder climate than coastal New South Wales, where we virtually never get frost.[ii] I also knew the ideal spot in our garden, a corner most of the day shaded by trees, with not much growing on it. There was only a small chilli plant, which will be much happier in a sunnier spot.
I soaked the roots in water overnight. This morning I first prepared the spot with some produce from the worm farm. The soil is not bad, but I thought some extra goodies can only help. I then planted the ginger, with its eyes looking up, covered it with soil and mulched the area with sugar cane mulch.
Not much to see just yet.
And now the waiting begins! Let’s hope there are further developments to report in The Ginger Diaries.
See also:
The Ginger Diaries (2) – an update
Notes:
[i] Skyer, M., ‘Growing Your Own Ginger and Turmeric’, Real Farmacy (5 Dec.2014). URL: http://www.realfarmacy.com/grow-endless-supply-ginger-indoors/ [last accessed 6 Jan. 2016]
[ii] Here is another article for warmer climates: ‘Growing Ginger Root’, Tropical Permaculture. URL: http://www.tropicalpermaculture.com/growing-ginger.html [last accessed 7 Jan. 2016]
Dottie Tales 