Oberon: If I get a piece of ginger root at the grocery store and plant it in my garden, A) will it grow, and B) is it suitable to grow in eastern NC?
JustaDumbBlonde: Ginger from the grocery store grows just great! I planted some many years ago and it spread like crazy. Looks similar to a bamboo plant ... kinda segmented with a stiff leaf. Good luck.
O: Did you ever harvest it to use in the kitchen?
JaDB: Yes, I did use the ginger root, alot. I like to make that ginger sauce that the hibachi steak houses always serve.
I lived in Houston when I grew the ginger, so the weather was not really cold most times. It was, however, planted just off the patio and was sheltered from wind, etc., but received a good deal of sunlight. I also kept the area mulched with cypress bark. You might do a Yahoo! search to find out just how deep to plant, etc. I just remember not planting it more than an inch or so and kept it watered. Within two years it spread from the one five-inch piece that I planted to a nice 3' x 3' patch of ginger.
After harvest, you can grate it and keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for quite awhile. If I were growing it today (which I will as soon as I find some), I would also dehydrate some to grind and/or powder. Crystallized ginger is a real delicacy and called for in a couple of cookie recipes that I have. Yum.
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