Growing spices - Ginger

Ginger is the underground stem of the ginger plant. It comes from Asia where they use it a lot in cooking. Ginger is also grown in the West of Africa and the Caribbean where it is used as a food and medicine.  Here is a Ginger Plant

Ginger is not a root but a swollen rhizome.

Jake- so what’s a rhizome Dan?

A Rhizome is a creeping stem that grows underground. Roots grow from a rhizome; they are shallow and wide rather than deep. This is good for us because this means we can easily grow ginger in plant pots and tubs as well as in the garden.
The best time to plant ginger is in spring when the sun is not to bright and it is not too hot.
Ginger will happily grow on a windowsill because it likes a bit of shade and filtered sunlight.

1. Find a big swollen rhizome of ginger from the fruit and vegetable shop. Try to do this in spring when the rhizome is shooting new buds. The buds that grow from ginger are green and are shaped like a horn.
2. Find a good size plant pot that has enough space for the ginger to grow.
3. Place your ginger in the plant pot to see how much soil you need to add until it’s full. Find where the shoots are growing from on the rhizome as this is the way you want it to grow up from the soil.
4. Fill the plant pot half way up with a good soil that’s full of nutrients.
5. Place the rhizome in the pot with the shoot facing up. Fill up the rest of the plant pot with soil to cover the ginger. You want the shoot to be right near the top so it can poke out of the soil when it’s ready.

Give the pot a good watering and place it on a sunny windowsill and wait for it to grow. It is a good idea to grow it inside first so you can grow it up big enough before it goes outside. This helps it survive as creatures like snails eat new plant shoots for a hobby.

Ginger grows quite tall and has beautiful flowers. It is quite an easy plant to grow as it does not need a lot of attention even though we will give it to it anyway as it smells lovely.
It will take the plant around ten months before it is mature. After this you can dig it up, give it wash and use it for cooking.
Ginger can be used in biscuits, ginger beer, candy and cold remedies. It can be used fresh or dried write back to us about how you use yours.
See Nan Fran’s recipe page for some instructions on how to make some great Gingerbread Men Biscuits.