How to grow ginger in Canberra
Zingiber officinale
Also called ginger root
Frost in Canberra rules out the cool zone's usual months for ginger. Ask the growers at your garden what works locally.
Ginger is a herbaceous perennial grown for its rhizome, the familiar spice. Each year it sends up leafy false stems about 1 m tall, formed from rolled leaf bases, while pale yellow flowers edged in purple rise on separate shoots. Turmeric, cardamom and galangal are all relatives.
When to sow in Canberra
Canberra, ACT is in the cool zone. The zone also plants in Nov to Dec, but Canberra's frost dates make those months risky for a frost-tender crop.
Not yet checked against a local guide.
Your local conditions can shift any months shown here, so treat them as a guide.
Frost in Canberra
Frost usually arrives in Canberra around early April and finishes by early November. In about 1 year in 10 it comes as early as mid March or as late as late November, so frost-tender crops are planned around those dates.
From its Bureau of Meteorology station, 1991 to 2020, counting a night at 2°C or lower as a frost. Frost hollows and hillsides can shift these dates by weeks, so ask the growers at your garden too.
On a shared plot: suits a plot
Finishes in a season and stays within its space, so it suits most plots.
Growing details
- How to start
- Sow directly in the bed
- Sowing depth
- 3cm
- Plant spacing
- 25cm
- Row spacing
- 20cm
- Height
- 100cm
- Time to harvest
- 120-160 days
- Frost
- Frost tender
- Sun
- Part sun
- Life cycle
- perennial
These are typical figures, and varieties differ. Your seed packet takes priority.