I never thought of turmeric and ginger for companion planting.

Who would've?

>>Wow.

>>Yeah, very unique, yes.

But, you know, we can grow ginger.

We just have to know how to do this.

And I bought this at the grocery store, Randy.

>>Okay.

>>Okay.

And to grow it, you know, it will take some time, and we'll never get it to bloom, but we can grow it so that we can enjoy it and get more for our culinary dishes.

>>Right.

>>As well as tea.

>>Okay.

>>Okay.

But first we need to have it be shorter because this is just too long of a piece.

And this is a rhizome, much like our German bearded iris, our rhizomes.

So we need to cut it at a joint right here, okay?

And I have a nice sharp knife.

And just gonna cut this piece off 'cause you wanna get a piece about this length.

>>Okay.

>>And as you can see inside, it's got a nice creamy color.

>>Yes.

>>Okay.

But you can see it's very fleshy too.

Right, but before we do anything more, we need to soak it because it has been treated with a growth inhibitor.

You know, 'cause grocery stores obviously don't want their ginger growing in the produce department.

And to do that, we take water, and we add some hydrogen peroxide to it.

About a four to one ratio.

>>And it smells so good.

>>Oh, it does, I love that smell too.

And then we take this piece, and we put it in there, and it actually just bubbles very nicely and takes off that outer coating.

>>Okay.

>>So while that's sitting there, 'cause that has to sit there for 15 minutes, let's go back to talking about the ginger.

Right, as I said, we have this raw cut, this open cut, and it needs to callous so that it's like this.

'Cause we need to make sure that this is not fleshy and open and soft, or of course rot will get in.

>>Correct.

>>You know, and that takes a few days.

So you just put it to the side for a few days in the air to allow it to dry.

And then once it's dry, and you can feel it.

You can feel it.

>>Yep.

>>Yep.

Then you know it's time to plant.

But, again, as I said earlier, this is a little bit big of a piece to plant, okay?

So I've come down to this piece, make it a little more handleable.

This is about the size that we want to plant.

And we can use it in our... If we have a start and the season's already going like it is now, we can just put it straight in the ground.

But if we need to get a start on it earlier in the season, we can put it in a pot.

But one of the attributes we need to look for to make sure we have good growth.

Can you see the bud there?

>>Yes.

>>And you can actually see another bud right over here.

There's two more buds right here.

>>Okay.

>>Okay?

And these are gonna be our growth points.

>>All right.

>>All right.

Now, typically when I plant irises and bearded iris, I just kind of set my rhizome on the soil and I wiggle it in.

Because this is actually a modified stem.

This is not a root, it's a modified stem.

But with ginger it's different.

And I didn't realize that.

With ginger, what we want to do is put it down about an inch or two into the soil and settle it on in.

>>Okay.

>>Okay?

And guess what we're gonna do?

We're gonna pat that little guy in there.

And then of course the next step would be to water it.

>>Okay.

>>And we wanna keep it moist, but we don't wanna keep it wet.

'Cause we don't want it to rot.

>>Right.

>>Okay.

So how do people know that?

You do the old finger test.

>>The finger test.

>>Yeah, it works like a charm.

If your finger comes out real wet, don't water it, all right?

But after a few weeks, it's about three weeks, the ginger will start to sprout.

And it has these leafy-type leaves.

Isn't that pretty?

>>Yes.

>>And it's gonna grow big and tall, and I highly doubt it will bloom.

But you can know that, at any point in time, particularly at the end of our season, more into October, you can harvest this and use the ginger.

But be careful because this, in its natural area, has a very tough skin.

But in this pot, and here growing in our gardens in Virginia, has a very thin skin.

So it's very easy to damage and break, and we don't wanna do that.

>>Right.

>>But I also wanna show you that if you buy turmeric and do the exact same process, and, again, plant it, it will take a few more weeks to actually even just start sprouting.

>>Okay, wow, look at that.

>>Yes, and you can see it.

And I was gonna take this out and show everybody how it was growing.

>>Okay.

>>All righty?

And you can see the roots, how it's coming on.

And you can see how, not a lot of roots, but remember this is a modified stem, so a lot of that energy is in, you know, this rhizome.

But look at all those roots.

>>Yeah.

>>And look at how they're growing out the sides, not out the base.

Okay?

And, again, it's been a few more weeks, and I finally have a little sprout versus this one.

I'm actually starting good in growth.

A nice growth habit.

Turmeric has a leaf kind of like our hand, a nice oval leaf.

Comes up like this.

While ginger has more of a grassy-like leaf.

So you can easily identify them as well.

>>Wow.

>>Yeah.

>>Okay.

We can use turmeric and ginger as companion plants in our gardens.

>>That's good to know.

>>Yep.

Just gotta start 'em a little early.

That's all, okay?