Tag Archives: container herbs

Culinary rhizomes: Ginger and turmeric

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We’re all familiar with ginger root (from the grocery store or dried whole or powdered) and turmeric (commonly found in curry powder–the bright yellow-orange stuff), and galangal in Southeast Asian cooking, but you can add those to the things you can grow in your kitchen garden–even if it is a container garden.

The ginger family of plants (Zingiberaceae) provides us with a number of “spices” that we use frequently:  ginger (Zingiber officinale), turmeric(Curcuma longa), and galangal (Alpinia officinarum or “lesser galangal), and cardamom seeds (genera Elettaria–green cardamom-–and Amomum–black cardamom).

Ginger, turmeric, and galangal are perennial herbaceous plants with specialized horizontal stems (rhizomes) that lie underground, but close to the surface.  While we are most likely to encounter these in the dried form or find the ginger rhizomes in the produce section of the grocery store, you can add the fresh forms of some of these to your culinary repertoire.

All these plants mentioned above have similar requirements for growing: even moisture, well-drained soil, partial to dappled shade, warm temperatures, and high humidity, and protection from cold.

Ginger (Zingiber officinale)

You can start your ginger by getting the “root stock” (an official technical term here) from the grocery store.   You want rhizomes that are plump, and fresh looking, and that have knobs or nubs growing off the main part of the root.  It’s likely that the ginger root you find in the grocery store will have been treated with something to retard growth/sprouting, so rinse it thoroughly before you plant it.

Bury it about one inch deep in well-drained soil and keep evenly moist.  If you’re planting it in a pot, you should use one that is of 12- to14-inch diameter and about same in depth, but does not need the full depth of most 14 inch pots.

It may take a few weeks before you see shoots appear.  You’ll not want to harvest your ginger heavily the first season, but you can harvest some after about 4 months.  Ginger will not need (or like) full sun–it would prefer part (dappled) shade.  In areas where you get hard freezes, you’ll need to overwinter indoors.  In areas where the winter is mild, it may die back to the ground with the onset of cool weather but should come up again in the spring.  (I’m partial to growing it in large pots).  During the summer it can be put outdoors and moved to shelter to prevent freezing in winter.  It should be fertilized with an all-purpose fertilizer about twice during the growing season.

You harvest by very gently uncovering part of the rhizome, or where it’s seen above the surface towards the edge of the pot–leaving the center portion undisturbed.

The ginger you harvest from your plant will be much less fibrous and less “hot” when compared to the large rhizomes that you purchase in the grocery store.  The leaves/stalks can also be used to brew tea (steep leaves in boiling water for 5 minutes) and you can add to stir-fries or other dishes if you slice the stalks/leaves thinly–it has a mild ginger flavor and maybe a hint of lemon or citrus.

Turmeric ( Curcuma domestica syn Curcuma longa)

Turmeric is touted as an anti-inflammatory and an antioxidant–I’m not touching on those properties here, but rather the culinary uses.  It has been called “poor man’s saffron” and that’s one of my favorite things: add fresh turmeric to rice.  It’s very earthy and warm.  It’s not saffron, but it’s good.

To grow your own, you’ll need the fresh rhizomes–found in Asian, Indian or Latina groceries–probably located close to the ginger, (and maybe the galangal).  You’ll treat it almost as you would ginger:  plant about one to two inches deep in a 12- to 14-inch pot (about 12 inches in depth as well), keep evenly moist but well-drained, and give it part shade to dappled shade.  This is also a tropical perennial so it will need winter protection.  In cool weather, the leaves will die back, but if not frozen the rhizomes should sprout again in the spring.  (I tried keeping some, with the ginger, in the house to overwinter, but neither turmeric nor ginger survived as a plant; the rhizomes did put up shoots again in the spring.)

You can harvest as you would ginger–by carefully cutting off small pieces toward the edges of the pot.  You need to handle with care as it will stain hands and probably counters–it’s used as a dye, too.   Left undisturbed (except for harvesting from the edges) you may see blooms in the second year.

Turmeric is currently appearing in chocolate bars, and being touted as a “superfood”. I just like the earthy flavor, in many things where I would use saffron (but am too cheap to do that).

I hope to add galangal if I can find the fresh rhizome–there is an Asian food store that I keep watching. I suspect I’ll find it there sooner or later.

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Growing herbs in containers

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From Gardener to Go (Sharyn Caudell) some pointers on growing herbs in containers.  For other gardening information you’ll find “Tip of the Month” at her website.

Herbs are wonderful addition to any garden.  They are beautiful plants and everyone knows that fresh herbs add so much to cooking.   Many of our herbs are Mediterranean in origin.  This means they grow in thin, often rocky soils in a hot summer climate with no rain in the summers.   Central North Carolina has the hot summers and one of the best ways to provide the other conditions is to grow them in containers.   Herbs will languish with ‘wet feet’ so good drainage is essential.

If you have sandy, well-drained soils in your garden, you can probably grow them directly in the ground.   For the rest of us, choose a large container. Some folks use flue tiles which are made of terra cotta. These are available from building supply stores.  Place the tiles upright on the ground and fill with a good soilless mix such as a high-quality potting mix. You want a potting soil that does not compress to a wet mix.   Several good brands are Fafard, MetroMix, Pro-Mix, Sunshine Mix and others (these are professional mixes).  If you can’t find those, look for a potting soil that does not contain moisture-retaining granules; this type is great for hanging baskets that you don’t want to water constantly but not herbs.  Try lifting the bag. It should feel light for its size.  Some potting soils are very heavy in the bag and will be too dense and wet for herbs.   You can mix perlite with the soil to improve the drainage. (Perlite improves aeration and drainage; vermiculite holds water so read the bags carefully!)   Do not add Styrofoam peanuts or pebbles or anything in the bottom of the pot to improve the drainage; it doesn’t work.  Soils drain by capillary action between the small pieces of the soil (think of a very thin straw).   Adding items in the bottom of the pot shortens the capillary ‘straw’ and holds more moisture in the pot.  To keep the soil from washing out of the pot, line with a sheet of newspaper, window screening, landscape fabric or several coffee filters. These will hold the soil in place while the roots form.   It is a good idea to mix in some dolomitic limestone with potting soil.

Herbs need 4 to 6 hours or more of sun per day.  Try to pick a spot that is easily accessible from the kitchen so you will use your herbs.   Herbs require moderate water so you don’t have to tend these daily.    Some good herbs to start with are parsley, chives, basil, thyme,  oregano, rosemary and sage.   Parsley is a biennial  plant—it sets seed its second year and then dies. Basil in an annual that needs replanted every year.   Chives, thyme, oregano and sage are perennials.   Rosemary is a shrub with lovely small blue flowers in the spring.  There are small varieties that will do better in a container.  Dill and cilantro will grow well in the spring and fall but will bolt, flower, set seed and die in our summer heat.   Pruning off the flowers or dead-heading will keep your herbs growing longer.   Herbs require little fertilizing.  It is better to be very sparing of fertilizer than to have lush growth that may be damaged in the winter.  You can always add a bit more fertilizer if you need it.   Most herbs will be fine with no fertilizer for the first year.

IMG_4073You can grow chives and parsley in a vegetable garden easily.    French tarragon is a wonderful herb that doesn’t do well in our summers.  You can substitute Mexican tarragon (Tagetes lucida) instead. This is actually a marigold that grows to 3-plus feet and has yellow flowers. Use the leaves as you would tarragon.   It is an annual.   There is a substitute for celery that is a perennial: cutting celery (Apium graveolens var. secalinum). It grows 12-15 inches and has a wonderful celery flavor but not the long stalks of regular celery.  It is an evergreen and will self seed.

In general, deer don’t like herbs because of their strong flavors or smells but a really hungry white-tail will eat almost anything.  Don’t use pesticides on your herbs.  The black and yellow caterpillars of the pipevine swallowtail butterfly will devour your parsley, dill and fennel plants but the leaves will grow back.

There are many other herbs that have been used medicinally or for dyes that are grown in our gardens for their beauty.   Browse the herb section at your garden center or find a book on the subject. You will enhance your garden and your table by growing herbs.