Ginger and Turmeric Spice Up My Garden!

One serrated edge,
one smooth, great tool!

Spring is always a time of new adventures here on the farm and this spring is no exception.  Back in the winter, I ordered five pounds of yellow ginger seed and five pounds of seed turmeric from the lovely Susan at East Branch Ginger and it arrived this week!  Sadly, due to a ginger crop failure, my ginger order was reduced to two pounds (a speedy refund for the unshipped 3 pounds arrived, too!) but the full turmeric order arrived.

Fresh empty trays!

The directions recommend pre-sprouting in a soil-less coir mix, which proved to be my first challenge.  I had not thought ahead to order any, so I took off to the local Lowe's in a frantic search.  The folks in the garden center were super nice, but looked sort of lost when I asked for "soil-less" starter mix.  

I had no idea how much
5 pounds of turmeric was!

Being the independent soul that I am, I wandered around until I ran across the Miracle-Gro mix which contained fertilizer (of course) and peat.  Since I'm trying to grow organically as well as sustainably, that just would not work.  But, right next to it was a new product, Burpee's Organic Seed Starting Mix, which, according to the label, is OMRI certified!  Yippee!  I loaded three bags, along with some African Violet Mix, and headed to the houseplant clearance shelf, where I've found some real bargains.  Along the way I ran into Jerry, a master gardener who works there.  He was very helpful, and made some great suggestions for my ginger adventure as well as the garden in general.

Spread soil-less mix in the trays.

Note to self:  take the Master Gardener class THIS FALL!  Jerry (the master gardener at our local Lowe's) made the most salient point yet:  his plants still die, from time to time, but, at least, now he knows why!

Ginger on the left, turmeric on the right.

Back to the ginger pre-sprouting adventure, I had extra seed flats with clear plastic lids, so I spread a 1" layer of the mix in the bottom of 5.  Then I used my pump sprayer (I absolutely heart my sprayer!) to moisten the mix before placing the seed tubers about 1" apart in the mix.  I sprayed the seed tubers (they actually looked more like corms) lightly with water before covering with another 1" of the mix.  I sprayed the top of the mix with water before placing the lids on top and moving them to the warmest room in my house:  the laundry room.  It has an old, inefficient refrigerator which gives off a heat, as well as the dryer, which seems to run constantly, even after we've become empty-nesters.  Several weeks in a warm place (light is not necessary) should lead to shoots.

Cover with an inch of mix.

The next step will be to construct the raised bed (after I decide where it's going; who knew that would be such a hard decision????).  Ginger requires "hilling" so I'll have to be prepared for that.  I have a few weeks to put it together.

Jerry the master gardener asked me why I was trying ginger in Tennessee.  It took me a minute to come up with an answer.  The easy answer is that I'm hoping to develop a solid niche at the farmer's markets.  I live near an SMSA of a million people with considerable cultural diversity.  I'm hoping the locally-grown organic ginger and turmeric will appeal and bring a premium price.  But, it's more than that.  Perhaps it's the same reason my grandmother, who completed her formal schooling with 8th grade about the same time women were finally given the right to vote, became the local expert in African violets and in orchids:  they were exotic; they were challenging; they were unique.  

Stacked in a warm place.

At the farmer's market, there are many farmers selling the usual, wonderful produce:  tomatoes, beans, greens, corn.  But in a tomato world, I'm ginger and turmeric.  I kind of like that.

How about you?  What's growing in your Savory garden?

Nancy