The first week in March I attended a workshop at the Columbus Agrarian Society on growing ginger in central Ohio. The workshop was led by Joseph Swain who has been growing young ginger a mile down the road for five years and selling it through Swainway Urban Farm. His ginger has always blown my mind – from a gardener/ artist / foodie perspective. It’s gorgeous and it tastes like longevity.
Typically grown in tropical locales, ginger needs some extra attention in these parts of the world. The workshop focused on how to cut up a hand of ginger to produce “seed,” planting and caring for rhizomes while they pre-sprout, and what to do with them once outside temperatures are ready for their transplant (regular temperatures in the 70s or above).
Here’s some of what we saw when we arrived.
And here’s Joseph showing us how to measure and cut seed.
A few folks gave it a try…
And then we all prepped our seed beds and took them home. Keeping the tray around 70 degrees and sunlit has not been easy. I’ve moved mine from the southfacing kitchen table (where it was always in the way and in danger of being turned into a fairy garden) to a bedroom upstairs that gets great light and is empty most of the time, and then finally to the basement to rest on our heating mat.
Six weeks later, we have sprouts! This is one of those gardening projects I’m really proud of, but really, it was mostly about patience.I know it doesn’t look like much, but just wait…
Over the Fence Urban Farm 