"datsy" wrote:

A few months ago I thought what the heck, and planted a sprouting
piece of ginger root in the conservatory.
Snip
grow yet more. I wasn't expecting it to grow a huge flower bud, but it has!

I did plant a couple of supermarket ginger roots. Both sprouted very
uninteresting looking shoots. I gave one to a friend who said his just
keeled over and died. Mine did the same a couple of months later - just
seemed to rot near soil level and the whole shoot fell over - so not a great
deal of success!

There's merely a curiosity value attached to growing common root
ginger. Despite its many values from a herballistic and culinary
point of view, it must be one of the least attractive members of an
otherwise fascinating and often highly ornamental family of plants.

The most commonly sold form has thin, weak stems to less than 1m.
high, bearing narrow, grassy leaves of little or no merit. Flowers
are infrequently produced towards the end of the growing season and
are yellowish tinged dull purple. They appear between the rather
tightly packed bracts of a greenish, cone-like inflorescence which is
carried on a short stem.

Root ginger is best grown in large pots containing a well drained,
loam-based compost and watered only lightly until growing strongly.
Once a good amount of foliage has developed, watering can be increased
and the plant will benefit from occasional liquid feeds. Direct sun
will burn the foliage, but too much shade will cause the plants to
eventually keel over. Common root ginger is naturally deciduous and
will die down in autumn. It is at this time that the roots are dug up
and dried in the sun to ripen them and improve keeping qualities.
Dave Poole
Torquay, Coastal South Devon UK
Winter min -2°C. Summer max 34°C.
Growing season: March - November