Growing ginger & other things at home ...

 I freely admit to being  a serial grower; there is always a pot of something growing on a sunny windowsill. It is often the base / crown of celery which easily spouts in shallow water then can be grown on in the covered Elho planters against the house. 

The planters already have some potted tomato plants being grown up & hardened off to be planted out mid May once it warms up & the risk of frost has gone. 

There is also some sunflower seeds growing on to be potted up - the birds peck them if they are grown outdoors initially. 

I have had little success with growing ginger; however, I saw a suggestion some months back online that advocated putting the root in damp kitchen paper in a plastic bag in a dark space & leaving it until it grew eyes. I duly did this with a root bought alongside my shopping. I cut it in to several pieces, wrapped each loosely in kitchen roll, dampened it & popped them in a sandwich bag. This went in the bottom pot drawer in the kitchen,  balancing on a sieve. 

I admit to almost forgetting about it, then noticing that the paper towel had purple colouring (from the roots) and other than checking it was still damp (it was) I just left it. I put an avocado pip in another bag with paper towel & left that too. 

I had a look this past week & the ginger had well developed eyes & some roots too so I have potted them on in a container. The suggested method is not to bury them but to lay them on the surface of the soil. Because it is still cold,  I spiked two sticks in the pot & wrapped bubble wrap around the pot, poking the bubble wrap on to the stick tops to form a little hot house. 

I am hopeful that this batch might actually grow but it is early days yet. Any suggestions to successfully growing it? 

The avocado pip was checked & it has a root growing. In Southern Africa we grew them as houseplants by starting them off with match sticks stuck in them but I have not had much luck so will give this one a bit longer on the sunny window sill before potting it on. 

I also have a lemon grass rooting in a glass on the windowsill - that will be ready for potting on this week & again in a warm bubble for a while as it grows on. 

I love the challenge of growing things; I hope you do too. 

Thank you for your company, please stop in again soon, 

Dee 🫚🫛🪴🌱