Quite a few weeks ago, maybe it was more like two months ago, I bought a huge freaking ginger root from the grocery store to make some kick ass Japanese food one night. If any of you have tasted straight up ginger you know that it is quite flavorful and strong. Needless to say I didn’t need but a little bit, and the rest of the root sat there waiting to be used again.
I must have forgot about it for a while (my taste for ginger comes and goes) because the next time I saw the thing it had sprouted some cute little green knobs. It reminded me of a potatoes eyes, and then I remembered that to grow a potato you use a potato. Without doing much research on growing ginger I went to work using the little knowledge I have of potato plants as a basis.
I should first preface the route I chose to grow ginger by stating that had I looked into the process even slightly before I started, I would have done things a little differently. Instead, armed with the confidence I had over the potato thing, I snipped part of the root off that I thought had the prettiest bud. I left the bud to sit outside for a couple of days, partly to get accustomed to the heat and humidity of the outdoors, and partly to heal itself from being separated from the rest of the root. When I thought it was ready I just plopped it into a pot of mulch and compost, then watered it. At least I got the bud side up part right.
I’m looking forward to what (if anything) might sprout up. I found out [later] that ginger doesn’t like a whole lot of sun, so this plant will do well in a less sunny room. The best part is that when I need more ginger I’ll only have to dig it up, use what I need, then bury the rest to grow some more!
H
