Ginger is widely renowned for its medicinal properties as well as being an important ingredient in many sweet and savory recipes. If you use a lot of ginger you might like to try growing it yourself.

With the right growing conditions, it is very easy to grow in your own home.


The part of the ginger plant we eat and sometimes refer to as the root is actually called the rhizome. And these are what we can use as a basis for starting a fresh batch of ginger plants. Being a perennial, once established, you’ll be able to produce fresh ginger for years to come.

What You Need

You can start off by purchasing some fresh ginger from your local supermarket.  If possible, try to find a rhizome with healthy, well-developed buds on it. You will also need a small plant pot. It’s up to you to decide the size and how many rhizomes you want to start off with but a 14 inch pot should be large enough to plant three average sized rhizomes. Finally, make sure you have some good quality compost.

When and How to Plant

Since ginger is a tropical plant it needs to be grown in warm, moist conditions. So if you live in a tropical climate with an average year round temperate of at least 82 degrees Fahrenheit / 28 degrees Celsius, with a minimum annual rainfall of around six inches or 150cm then you can plant outside in rich, fertile soil.

If you live in a cooler climate, you'll have better success planting inside. Ginger grows well in a sheltered environment such as windowsill but you'll need to be careful not to place it in direct sunlight. Also take care to ensure it isn’t likely to be exposed to frost. The best time of year to start off your ginger is late winter to early spring.

When planting your ginger, cut off at least a two to three inch length fingers from the bud of your rhizome. Make a small well in your compost and bury the finger with the bud facing upwards. Lightly cover with the soil.

Watering and Feeding

As with all tropical plants, ginger needs lots of moisture during its growing season. Make sure the soil stays nice and moist but take care not to over water so the soil becomes soggy or waterlogged. At the same time don’t allow the soil to dry out while it’s actively growing. If the air in your environment is very dry, you can regularly spray or mist water over your ginger plant, which should provide it with sufficient humidity to keep it growing well.

Towards the end of summer, when growth has started to slow and the leaves begin to die back, reduce watering as if it were entering the ‘dry season’ in the tropics. You can even allow the pot to dry out which in turn promotes the forming of rhizomes.

With regards to feeding it, if you have very good quality compost you shouldn’t need to do anything other than provide warmth, light and water. But for poorer quality soil you can feed it every two to three weeks with a good quality pot-plant feed once it’s growing.

When to Harvest

You’ll have to be patient as ginger is a slow growing plant. It generally takes around eight to ten months for the first rhizomes to fully mature so if you plant at the beginning of spring, your ginger should be ready before the next winter.

Your ginger plant will reach around two to three feet in height and will only grow a few leaves. Keep an eye on the leaves as once they begin to die down your ginger is ready for harvest. You can harvest sooner if you like, anytime after about five months. However, this immature ginger will still be green and although you can use it, it does have a lot less flavor than the fully mature rhizomes. Once you you've harvested your ginger, choose a few sections with growing buds and replant to start off a new cycle.

Pest Problems

Spider mites can become a problem if the air is too dry. However it’s easily resolved by ensuring the plant is regularly misted with warm water at least twice a day. Doing this as well as keeping it in a warm and sheltered place should discourage such pests.
  
If you don’t need to use all your ginger immediately, it will store for a couple of weeks in the fridge sealed in a plastic bag. As for the rest, ginger freezes exceptionally well. Before freezing, cut it into suitable portions sizes and peel each segment. Then place the peeled ginger pieces into a freezer bag or container and pop into the freezer where they’ll keep well for up to two months.

Growing your own herbs and spices is very rewarding and somehow, when you’ve produced them yourself, they seem to taste that much better. Ginger is a relatively easy plant to grow and as long as you keep it warm and moist in a sheltered area, within nine months you’ll be harvesting your very own ginger plant.