How to grow and care for ginger in the open ground in the country and when to harvest

Ginger is an exotic plant for our country, native to the tropics of South Asia. It is valued for its properties and chemical composition. It is a spice, a medicinal product, and an ornamental plant. Many amateur gardeners are interested in the question of how to grow ginger in the open ground at the dacha, so as not to buy spicy roots in the store.

In Russia, it can be grown in different climatic zones if you choose the right method. So, in the southern regions, where the summers are long and quite warm, ginger can be grown in the ground in the country without any special tricks. Here, a plant that looks like bamboo and blooms with interesting buds is planted in the garden as an ornamental.

In the middle zone, the valuable root is grown in greenhouses or greenhouses. In northern regions, where summers are too short, ginger is grown in home greenhouses or on windowsills.

Features of growing ginger in open ground

Many gardeners cultivate ginger; growing it outdoors in our region poses some difficulties due to its tropical origin.

Ginger is a perennial herbaceous plant. Its rhizome, which in the East is called the “horned root,” branches horizontally, releasing from the buds strong stems 50–150 m high with narrow leaves up to 20 cm long. In order for the ginger root to grow sufficiently, it must be in the ground for 8–10 months. Such a root will have all the beneficial properties characteristic of the plant.

Due to its long growing season, ginger is easiest to grow from seedlings. To do this, prepare a substrate from a mixture of humus, humus, sand, and soil in equal parts. The soil mixture is laid out in containers 25 cm high and moistened. Pieces of rhizome are deepened into it with the buds up 3-4 cm and watered. Shoots for planting will appear within 2-3 weeks.

The basic conditions necessary for growing ginger in sufficient quantities: long and warm summers, high air humidity, protection from drafts, a shaded area.

All parts of the culture have a pleasant lemon aroma. Useful properties of ginger roots are determined by its chemical composition. The plant contains essential oils, macro- and microelements, amino acids (tryptophan, threonine, methionine, phenylalanine, valine and others), vitamins A, C and B group.

Zingiberene, camphene, bisabolene and other substances included in its composition determine the anti-inflammatory, bactericidal, choleretic, anthelmintic, antispastic and other beneficial properties of ginger root.

Selecting a site for planting

Ginger in the country is grown in an area protected from drafts and wind. Choose a well-lit place, shaded during the hottest time of the day, since direct sunlight is harmful to it. You can provide shading of the area for planting.

Another necessary condition that must be observed when choosing a site for planting a crop is soil moisture. The plant does not tolerate swampy, waterlogged soils. Growing in such conditions leads to rotting of thick roots. Therefore, it is better to plant it on hills or dry areas, and drain or mulch the soil before planting to better remove excess moisture.

The easiest way to maintain the conditions necessary for growing ginger is in greenhouses or greenhouses.

The choice of planting material and its subsequent preparation are of great importance. They begin to germinate from late February to early March, and in May they are transplanted into open ground.

What should the soil be like for planting?

Planting and caring for ginger begins with proper soil preparation.First of all, to get a good harvest, the soil must be light, loose, and well-drained. For this purpose, it is mixed with sand or mulch (compost from fallen leaves, turf or pine needles).

To plant ginger, the soil must be fertile with medium acidity. To do this, organic fertilizers are added to it in the fall: humus, peat, compost. During the growing season, complex mineral fertilizers are additionally applied.

How to plant ginger in open ground?

To plant ginger in your garden, use the rhizome, divided into pieces. If the air temperature at the beginning of the growing season is not high enough, the plant is covered with film. If it is not possible to choose a suitable location and provide the necessary conditions, plant it in greenhouses or greenhouses.

Timing for planting ginger in the country

In its natural environment, ginger grows from 6 months to a year. In our latitude, he has an average of 9 months for this, most of which is spent on germinating seedlings.

To obtain seedlings, the roots are planted in pots in February-March or even January. The timing of planting in open ground depends on the region. It is customary to plant shoots in April-May, after the last frost, when the average daily temperature reaches +18...+25 °C. If the temperature gets lower, plant development slows down. It will be difficult to re-stimulate its growth.

In the Moscow region, dacha cultivation begins by placing seedlings in a greenhouse so that the plants have time to adapt to environmental conditions. Provided there is early spring and warm summer in the garden, ginger can be planted in the Urals, but it is safer to grow it in a greenhouse in this region.

Selection of planting material

To grow ginger in the garden, first of all you need to choose suitable planting material.The culture is sprouted from the root, which can be bought in a simple supermarket. Choose a healthy, dense, young root with a light, evenly colored, smooth and even glossy skin without defects, signs of wilting or frostbite.

The cut or scrap must be clean, white, without signs of drying out or withering. When choosing rhizomes for planting, you need to pay attention to the number of shoot buds. The more there are, the greater the chances of getting seedlings.

Preparing the rhizome for planting involves cutting or breaking off small pieces, each of which should have 2-3 buds. It is best to divide the rhizome along the jumpers. The cut area should be sprinkled with crushed activated carbon or wood ash.

Preparatory work for planting ginger

Ginger is best planted in pre-prepared grooves. Since the root branches sideways and not downwards, the depth of the groove may not exceed 10 cm. Small pebbles are placed in a 1 cm layer at the bottom of the prepared grooves for drainage.

The gravel is sprinkled with a layer of substrate 5-6 cm thick. Before planting, prepared pieces of ginger should be placed in warm water or a weak solution of potassium permanganate for several hours in order to stimulate bud germination.

How to plant ginger in a summer cottage?

There are several simple rules on how to plant ginger root correctly. For normal vegetation, the divisions should be located close to the surface. They are buried no more than 3-4 cm.

Place them with their buds up at a distance of 10-15 cm so that the roots do not interfere with each other. The soil must first be loosened and moistened. In addition, the divisions are watered abundantly after planting.

How to properly care for ginger in the country?

Until new root crops are formed, the ginger root grows for about 7 months. During this period, the plant requires regular watering, spring feeding, loosening the soil and removing weeds.

If ginger is grown as an ornamental plant, it is left to overwinter in the ground. In order to achieve flowering, you need to maintain high humidity and an optimal temperature for the plant. The easiest way to maintain these conditions is in a greenhouse. Plants bloom only in the second year.

Divisions planted in open ground are covered with perforated film to ensure germination and protection from nighttime drops in temperature. When a sprout appears after 2-3 weeks, the film is removed. At this stage, the sprouts need lighting for 12-14 hours a day and regular soil moisture.

In August, the active formation of root crops ends and the plants no longer require intensive care. In the fall, when the shoots die, the roots can be dug up and used or left to overwinter. In this case, you need to cut off the shoots and cover the roots.

Rules for watering plants

In order to grow ginger, it needs to be watered regularly. It is worth considering that this is a moisture-loving crop that prefers moist air. Regular spraying and sprinkling will not harm it, especially on hot summer days. This is done in the morning or evening so as not to burn the leaves.

Before the first shoots appear, the cuttings need to be watered regularly and abundantly to prevent them from drying out and stopping their development. When sprouts appear, watering should be reduced.

The soil should not dry out, but it should not be over-moistened, as this can lead to rotting of the roots. After watering, the soil is loosened to a depth of 1 cm.When the bushes begin to turn yellow and droop, reduce watering and stop spraying altogether.

When and how to feed ginger in open ground?

Fertilizing is applied throughout the entire growing season. The first complex fertilizer, which contains nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, is applied before the leaves of the plant appear. Also at this stage, ginger is fed with organic fertilizers once every 1.5-2 weeks.

The best organic fertilizer for it is compost. Humus from the leaves feeds the plant in its natural environment. In addition, you can use a solution of mullein diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10. In August, the crop can be fed with potassium fertilizers, which promote the formation and ripening of tubers.

If ginger is preparing to flower, phosphorus-potassium fertilizers are applied at the budding stage. When the leaves of the plant begin to turn yellow and droop, stop feeding.

How and when to harvest ginger?

Harvest in the fall, 9-10 months after planting. A sign of the readiness of root crops is yellowing and dying of shoots. At the same time, rhizomes can be dug up for food within six months after planting.

2 days before harvesting, the crop is no longer watered. Dig up the root crops with a shovel, clear the soil, remove additional roots and dry them. Before drying, the roots can be washed with cold water.

Ginger: tips for proper storage

Store root vegetables at a temperature of +2...+4 °C, in the cellar or in the refrigerator in the vegetable compartment. Before bookmarking storing ginger wrapped in paper. Another storage method is dried. In this case, preparing the root for storage involves cleaning it and cutting it into slices.But before using it you will have to soak it for 5-6 hours. As a result, the spice's taste and aroma will become more pronounced.

You can store ginger in the freezer. But when defrosting, most of the nutrients are lost. It can only be used as a spice.

If the ginger was grown in a pot, it can be left for the winter in the ground near a warm radiator and dug up as needed.