You might have some mint or basil blooming on your kitchen sill, but have you ever imagined ginger joining that crew? Well, it can. Ginger is one of those things that somehow ends up in your cart—tossed in for a tea recipe, a stir-fry, or because someone on TikTok swore it cures everything short of heartbreak.
But what if that knobby root could do more than sit benched in your fridge or fruit basket for weeks, wondering why it wasn’t born an onion? A video by Jacques of @Jacquesinthegarden on YouTube says that if your store-bought ginger has a little eye at the tip, it’s ready to grow. And with a few easy steps, that root can go from spice rack seat filler to full-blown houseplant with benefits. Here’s how to start:
1. Check for Eyes
Grab a piece of ginger from the grocery store and look for little bumps or “eyes” at the tips. They kind of look like the start of a potato sprout or like your ginger is trying to grow eyeballs. Those little nubs are signs of life. It doesn’t matter if the ginger is organic or not.
According to Jacques, what matters is that there’s a visible eye—because that’s where the new growth will come from. Even the most basic supermarket ginger can work if it has those starter buds.
2. Soak It Overnight
Grocery store ginger is often treated with a growth inhibitor to keep it from sprouting during storage and transport. That treatment can hang around and delay growth even after planting.
To get rid of it, soak the ginger in water overnight. This helps break down the chemical coating and rehydrates the root, making it more responsive once it’s in the soil. Skipping this step might mean waiting weeks for any sign of life—or none at all.
3. Split It into Pieces to Grow More Plants
If your ginger has multiple eyes, break it into chunks—one eye per piece. No need to use a knife; just snap it with your hands like you’re breaking a biscuit in half. Each chunk with an eye is a future plant. The more pieces you prepare, the more shoots you’ll have growing.
4. Plant the Pieces in a Wide Pot and Shallow Soil
Grab a wide, shallow pot with drainage holes, then fill it with a mix of compost and potting soil. Ginger likes to spread out, not dig down deep, so it doesn’t need a flowerpot the size of a garbage can.
Place the pieces eye-side up on the soil, then cover them lightly—just enough to hide them like you would tuck in a toddler with a too-short blanket. Water the soil until it’s damp but not soggy.
5. Keep It Warm and Bright
Ginger loves warmth the way people love heated car seats in winter. Put the pot in a warm, bright spot like a sunny windowsill or near the stove if that’s where the sunlight hits.
You won’t see anything for a few weeks. It usually takes about a month for those green shoots to show up. Don’t panic—it’s not ghosting you. It’s just slow to commit. In time, little green shoots will poke up, and that’s when you know it’s working.
How to Harvest
Once your ginger plant starts growing, what you see above the soil isn’t the part you’ll harvest. New roots slowly swell and snake out from the original chunk you planted. You don’t need to yank out the whole plant to enjoy it. Just dig gently around the edges, snip off a piece of the fresh rhizome like you’re stealing a cookie, then cover it back up.
The plant keeps going like nothing happened. It’s one of the few crops that lets you snack without sacrifice.
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