Episode: # 10 09/06/07
Presenter: Phil Dudman

Phil visits a wonderful organic ginger farm overlooking the beautiful glasshouse mountains in Queensland’s Sunshine Coast hinterland. The conditions are perfect for growing ginger (Zingiber officinale) and if you have never seen it growing before then it is a great place to take a closer look.

The leaves are a lovely deep green and the root or rhizome is plump and beautiful. They say that ginger is a natural aphrodisiac and if you want to risk growing it in your own garden then you will be glad to know that you can grow in a pot with ease, wherever you live.

The first thing we need to look at is the mix. Ginger likes a rich organic soil so Phil has a very special blend to show you and it is great for growing all sorts of edible plants in pots.

You will need:

• 2 buckets of good quality potting mix like Yates Thrive Premium Potting Mix
• 1 bucket of rich compost
• A few decent handfuls of Waterwise Peat to help retain moisture.
• 2 x 400g tins full of Dynamic Lifter
• One tin of Blood and Bone
• A healthy pinch of Sulphate of Potash

Mix it all together and you will have a truly magical blend. Load that it into some pots as 300 – 400 mm are a good size and you are ready to plant.

Of course, you can just pick up a rhizome from your local grocer but try not to get some old dried up piece. Look for something that is full, fat and fleshy. You should also look for buds as that is where the new shoots are going to form.

You can cut a big piece into lots of smaller pieces about the size of a golf ball and each one, as long as it has some of those buds on it, will form a new plant.
All you do is then press them into the potting mix about three per pot, water it in well and you are done. Keep it moist and after a couple of months, you will have a lush looking plant and your rhizome underneath will be starting to grow as well. That will be ready to harvest around February/March.
You probably can’t wait to get into it right now but it is a warm season crop so hold off planting until around August September.

Mango Hill Farm
159 Commissioners Flat Road
Peachester, Queensland 4519

Featured Products

Waterwise Peat

• Ideal additive to potting mixes. Can also be added to garden soil as a soil conditioner.
• Coir peat is a renewable organic resource.
• It can be mixed into garden soil or potting mix.
• Coir attracts, absorbs and holds moisture for the plants to use over time, improves the wettability and structure of garden soil and potting mixes and encourages beneficial soil micro-organisms and earthworms.

Thrive Premium Potting Mix

• Ideal for all potted plants and shrubs including ornamentals, fruit trees, vegetables and herbs.
• Contains Nutricote controlled release fertiliser to feed up to nine months.
• Added wetting agent allows the mix to absorb water quickly thoroughly and allows for easy re-wetting of the mix.
• Organic based blend.

Yates Sulphate of Potash

• Rich source of potassium for encouraging flowering and fruiting in all plants, as well as promoting disease resistance.
• Completely soluble.
• Potassium sulphate is one of the safest and most concentrated forms of potassium.
• Ideal for mixing with Blood and Bone for an organically based complete fertiliser

Dynamic Lifter Organic Plant Food

• This is a versatile feed for all garden, potted and Australian native plants.
• Slow release nutrients improving structure and retention of the soil.
• It also encourages earthworms and is beneficial to soil micro-organisms

Blood and Bone

• An organic fertiliser suitable for all gardens including Australian natives.
• Provides nitrogen for healthy leaf growth and phosphorus for stron root development.
• Organic nutrients are released slowly to the plant, improves soil structure, promotes beneficial soil micro-organisms and encourages earthworms.