How To Grow Ginger From The Store

If you are anything like me, you like trying random gardening experiments.  I’m always trying to plant things that I buy at the store or plant my kitchen scraps such as potatoes and garlic.  One year I also had a couple of ginger roots so I tossed one in a pot.  It grew nicely right for a while! 

Because ginger a tropical plant and Oregon is NOT a tropical location, I tucked it in a protected corner next to my dryer vent to stay warm.  Every morning I tossed the rabbit’s old water on it to keep it nice and damp.  

The plan was to dig up several roots to replant and use, but unfortunately I planted mine late in the growing season and when the weather turned cold I didn’t bring it inside in time for it to finish growing and it died.  Story of my gardening life!  Make sure to bring plants inside before the frost hits!

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How To Plant Ginger

However, ginger is super duper easy and most people have much better luck than I did with my black thumb. Here are some tips on starting your own ginger plant:

1. Spring time is best for planting.
2. Get ginger from someone who has a plant or buy it at the store.   Try to get one that hasn’t been treated with growth retardants.  Organic maybe?  There’s always online if you can’t find it near you.
3. Fill a pot with compost.
4. Plant it about 2-3 inches deep in your pot.  Put the growth buds facing up.  They look like little nubs on the root. (Tropical Permaculture has an article on ginger with pictures of the growth buds if you’re not sure what they are.)
5. Water frequently.  Keep it moist!
6. Keep it indoors if you live in a cold area.  If you have a hot climate, plant it in dappled shade.
7. Harvest the roots and replant some of them when it dies back in the fall.

It really is one of the easiest plants to grow.

How to Use Ginger

I mostly grate ginger into master tonic, which is my go to treatment for colds.  It has many medicinal properties, and is can be used to treat digestive troubles, nausea, fevers, colds, cramps, circulation problems, and inflammation.  

Fresh it can be grated and boiled to make a tea, be used in cooking, or to make ginger ale.  It can also be ground and dried and used to make ginger bread, pumpkin pie, cookies, and other delicious holiday foods. 

You can also put ginger in a crockpot of water overnight and get a yummy ginger flavored liquid to add into things like lemonade.

Have you grown ginger?  What’s your favorite way to use it, whether home grown or purchased?