Re gingers- how likely are they to come back after a cold spell? The grocery store ginger that I planted grew for a long time, and was covered during frost, but the stalks died back. What are the chances that it’ll survive and come back when it warms up?
The usual commercial ginger, Zingiber officinale, doesn’t like cold weather. Strangely, if you put a fresh ginger rhizome in the fridge, it’ll eventually get this odd blueish color inside: “I’m cold!” It can survive brief periods in frosty weather if the soil and rhizome are warmer, heavily mulched and kept pretty dry. The longer it is kept cool/cold, the greater the chance it will rot. I bring mine indoors and dry it out slowly to go dormant, watering just enough so the rhizomes don’t shrivel, pots piled up in the basement. I don’t know how to predict the odds in your case; it depends on a lot, soil temperature and moisture is a big factor.
Ginger seems more prone to drying out than other ginger-family relatives, such as Turmeric, Galangal, Galanga, and Zedoary. So, about once a month, I add enough water to the pots to get them humid-moist, never wet. They greatly prefer the greenhouse, but do not grow, since it goes down to 55°F (13°C) at night and during cold, cloudy days.
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I have a japanese ginger - Zingiber mioga, that grows in pot outdoor, leaves are gone in autumn, and the new shoots come back in spring. I’ve it since 2018, and 1 winter had snow and winter are wet here. I considered myself lucky, as I think the winter culture is similiar to what bogman said about commercial ginger.
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Well, it’s due to freeze in a couple of days, maybe I’ll put a heat mat and frost cloth on it, just for experiment’s sake. There’s a blob of it sticking out of the soil that’s still quite firm.
Myoga ginger is hardier, more resistant to cold than other culinary gingers. However, with Z. mioga, I’ve never heard of anyone using the rhizome. Tender shoots and flower buds are eaten. That’s one ginger missing from my collection. I bought one, mail order, two years back, but it was such a pathetically weak plant when it got here, it didn’t last a week. I stopped ordering from that company!
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While it’s an acquired taste, Gom Chwi (gomchwi), Ligularia fischeri is a shade loving perennial used in Korean cuisine, used cooked or as ssam/wraps.
I know better than to try to grow the beautiful gingers, I just want to grow enough to eat some. “I grew the ginger in this dish myself.” Oooh, ahhh! Et cetera
Actually the flowers of Z. mioga come and go pretty quickly. 2 times when I spotted the flowers, they were waning, too late for consumption.
Ok, I grew some edible fiddlehead last spring in a spot with heavy shade, leaves are all gone now in winter. No idea if they die completely or just the leaves, as my other non edible ferns still have leaves.
Never thought of growing normal gingers, but recently I bought some local organic brittany ginger, they have a lovely yellow orange hue, sharp taste and juicy and doesn’t last forever like the Chinese ginger. Also the fact that Chinese ginger is treated with chemicals is a concern.
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Most ginger flowers don’t last. With Z. mioga, you look for the fat flower buds before they open. Scroll down for a picture of them.
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Good idea, will do that. Thanks.
Late to this thread. I live in a hard, cold winter (MA area) so I’ve never tried leaving it past the winter and seeing if it comes back. My mom gets impatient and harvests the teeny new root growths for eating/cooking once the frost starts to hit. Those things are never more 2 inches or so long…
These are just ginger roots from the local grocery. We look for fresh young organic ones when we can, but we’ve even tried regular ones we find at American markets. A bit hit or miss, even when they do show fresh buds on the rhizomes. The best year we had, while the rhizome stayed quite small, it sprouted gorgeous stems and fronts that were super fragrant if you broke off a frond, even without flowering.
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I think the one I was trying to overwinter got murdered when it froze last week, but I’m not sure, and I don’t want to dig it up just yet.
It’s important to boil the fiddleheads then discard the water before using them for sautéeing, etc. I boiled some for around 10 minutes before using them in a sauté, and someone I know got pretty sick afterwards.
I’m avoiding fiddleheads- we don’t like them that much, anyways.
This is from the Canadian Government site
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We get fiddleheads in New England too, but they are only available for about a month. I’ve always read about the poisoning potential, but (knock on wood) haven’t had any issues yet. I only indulge once or twice when I find them and they are fresh, and I make a serving just for myself. I’ve never boiled them beforehand though - usually a thorough washing, and then a straight sautee with plenty of garlic and butter. That reminds me that I have not seen any this season. Maybe the supply chain issues made them not worth the effort, since they do deteriorate quickly.
