How to grow ginger

I just checked my local Woolworths online and fresh ginger is currently $45 a kilo! If you use a lot of ginger in your food and drinks, it would probably be worth investing some some time and energy in growing six months worth of ginger.  

There are a few fresh herbs that pay off in the home garden too. If you're like me and use a lot of herbs in your home cooking, you will save money if you set yourself up with your favourite herbs either in the garden or in a few pots in the sunshine near the back door.  Fresh herbs cost $3 each per bunch here, so if you use parsley, green onions, thyme, basil, or whatever, you'd spend $20 just on herbs every week. If you buy a bag of potting mix and some seedlings, it might cost $20 - $30 but you'd grow herbs all year with that. If you buy four bunches of herbs every week for a year at $20, you'll spend over one thousand dollars just on herbs.

This is the ginger I harvested last week.  You can see one green bud just left of centre.

But let's get back to ginger. I grow it mainly for baking and drinks. In a warm climate, it's easy to grow and it's one of those crops that you can leave in the ground for a while. It will not tolerate frosts so if you're likely to get frosts, grow the ginger outdoors until the cold weather arrives and then move the pot to a sunny warm place to continue growing. It will take 6 - 9 months for ginger to reach maturity and be ready for harvest. The colder the climate, the longer it takes.

1. Buy ginger to plant from either your local plant nursery or look for healthy ginger, preferably with green buds or small shoots, at the market. If you buy a big piece, you can cut it into smaller 3 - 5 cm pieces to plant out.
2. The best pot is a wide pot that isn't too tall.  I use an old baby bath (see photo below) and it's the ideal size.  Place the pot in a sunny spot out of the wind
3. Fill the pot with good quality potting mix, NOT garden soil, with some compost or old cow manure added.
4. Plant with the bud or shoot up, about about 2 inches deep and 6 inches apart.  Water in well.  Keep an eye on them until the ginger send up shoots and don't let them dry out.  Water about 3 - 4 times a week in a hot climate and less in a colder place. 
5. Fertilise every two weeks with a weak liquid fertiliser such as homemade comfrey fertiliser, an organic liquid or seaweed solution.
6. They'll be ready to harvest when the shoots are about 3 feet/1 metre tall and they begin to die back. Harvest the entire plant and cut off a few pieces to replant for your followup crop.  Do that straight away.

This is the ginger I grow in an enamel baby's bath.

Grating ginger to make ginger syrup. I use this in hot black tea during winter or with icy cold mineral water in summer. 

Ginger can stay in the ground for a couple of weeks if you can't harvest straight away, or dig them up, clean them thoroughly and store in the freezer, unpeeled. They'll last well for about six months.

Ginger Beer

If you want a real treat, especially at Christmas, make a batch of ginger beer.  It used to be a very popular drink at Christmas in Australia when I was growing up.  Here is my recipe, with photos.   

Ginger Syrup

To make ginger syrup, simply grate or finely chop a large piece of ginger root, you'll need at least a cup full of ginger. Don't get too precious with the amounts - it doesn't have to be exact.

To 2 litres of water add two cups of sugar and bring to the boil. When the sugar has dissolved, add the ginger and simmer the mix for an hour. Turn off the heat, put the lid on the saucepan, and leave it sitting on the stove overnight to develop flavour.

The next day, pour the mix through a fine strainer to remove the ginger pulp and store the liquid in a sealed, sterilised bottle. Use this mix as you would use any cordial - a small amount mixed with cold tap water or mineral water. Generally this is about one part syrup to four parts water but the amount you use will depend on your own taste. Experiment until you find the right balance. It can be stored in the  fridge.

Don't throw out the ginger pulp, you'll get a second batch from it. Collect the used ginger, add it back to the saucepan and use half the amount of water and sugar you used for the first batch. The process is the same - bring to the boil, simmer for an hour, turn the heat off and leave the mix on the stove overnight. Bottle the following day.

Good luck with your gingers!