Growing Turmeric

Fruitylicious1 says...
Hi Linda

The ideal planting time for turmeric and ginger is during spring time but, for a determined gardener you can grow them indoors as well during the cooler months.

Ideally, you need a temperature from between 30c-35c. You can easily achieve this planting them in a clamshell plastic the one that supermarkets use as a punnet for fruits etc. I'm sure you know how to plant them because with your experience with ginger. Just put the punnet in a sunny window sill and closely monitor the moisture. For more controlled and accurate germination you can buy a small germination chamber together with an adjustable heat mat to take away the guess work when it comes to optimum growing temperature. During the colder months if you don't have a glasshouse or a heated greenhouse you can purchase a growlight so you can continue growing them indoors. Once they have grown a bit you can individually transfer them to their own mini pots. As they grow larger you will need to update the size of their pots. When the night temperature in spring starts to warm up and there is no more frost threat you can slowly ease them outside where you can finally plant them in the garden. In a sheltered spot first and slowly increase the amount of sun until hardened enough to be transplanted directly into the garden.

So trying to grow turmeric in winter is not as easy as you would like but it's achievable.

If you can't be bothered planting them during winter you can store your grocer bought turmeric in a box filled with totally dry wood shavings, leaves, shredded paper etc, close the box and store it in a cool dry place inside the house. When the weather starts to warm up again in spring you can use your set aside turmeric for planting. You can even use them for cooking when you ran out of turmeric and couldn't be bothered to go to the store.

Happy gardening :-)