Ginger: Sowing, planting and harvest calendar
How do you start ginger from a rhizome under cover?
To start culinary ginger under cover, use a healthy, firm rhizome with growth buds rather than seeds. If dividing it, retain one or more buds on each piece and let the cut surfaces dry before planting.
In spring, choose a wide enough container with drainage holes and a light growing medium. Lay the rhizome horizontally with buds facing upwards and cover with about 2–3 cm of growing medium. Keep it warm, with the medium around 20–25 °C and filtered light.
Water sparingly at first, then maintain light moisture once shoots appear, without soaking the pot. Move outdoors only after acclimatisation, when conditions remain warm enough and all risk of frost has passed. In a cool climate, container growing lets you bring the plant back into warmth.
How do you harvest ginger?
Ginger is harvested for its rhizome, an underground stem. You can harvest young ginger after several months of growth without routinely waiting a year. More mature rhizomes need a longer warm growing season; timing depends on growing conditions.
Gently lift the root ball or uncover the rhizomes with a garden tool without piercing their delicate skin. Clean the portions intended for cooking and dry their surface. Use them promptly or freeze them in a suitable container; storage life depends on their condition and storage.
If keeping pieces for replanting, select healthy rhizomes with growth buds. Keep them frost-free without refrigerating them. Yellowing may accompany dormancy, but it is not enough on its own to determine harvest time.
Ginger
- Type : Aromatic plants
- Subtype : Tuber vegetables
- Botanical Family : Zingiberaceae
Characteristics
- Lifecycle : Perennial
- Exposure : Full Sun
- Frost Hardiness : Frost Sensitive
- Cultivation Difficulty : Challenging
- Mature height : 60 cm
Sowing & Planting
- Greenhouse crops : Not suited to the available shelters
- Greenhouse Growing : Recommended
- Sowing Depth : 2 cm
- Plant Spacing : 20 cm
- Row Spacing : 30 cm
Maintenance
- Maintenance : Moderate
- Water Requirements : High
Other characteristics
- Soil Type : Humus-rich
- Soil pH Preference : Neutral
- Pest Sensitivity : Moderate
- Disease Sensitivity : Moderate
- Weed Sensitivity : Moderate
- Pollination : Insect-pollinated
- Propagation : Layering