Finally, we've seen a couple of days of sun this week, so yesterday it was out into the garden with the digging fork.
Despite my fears that the rhizomes would be rotting in the ground, they were mostly OK, with only the odd rotten one which was great. I honestly can't remember how many rhizomes I planted last year, I just remember shoving them into the ground in the new "dog-leg" vegie bed when I had a spare 10 minutes LOL. I guess it was about a dozen? We then proceeded to have some (more!) seriously wet weather afterwards, when I lost of lot of my newly-planted root crops to root rot, so I was quite pleased to get maybe half of them growing over summer.
It was the work of maybe 5-10 minutes to dig the plants up, but then they were so full of sticky mud (and worms!) that it probably took another hour of rinsing, sorting and removing the roots before I could get a look at the final harvest:
Not too shabby for a home garden, if I do say so myself.
Final harvest total: 3.944 kg or 8.7 pounds.
Some will be eaten fresh in stir fries and curries (oh, how winter and Indian curries go together!), some saved for replanting in spring and the bulk will be sliced, dried in the dehydrator and powdered, as I did last year.
You can read more about growing turmeric here.
13 comments:
Wow....That's quite an impressive harvest.
Nice Work Julie, you have to be happy with that!
Hi Julie that is fantastic!
What brand of dehydrator do you use, I am thinking of getting one?
That's fabulous, well done. Where did you get the rhizomes in the first place - seed catalogue or green grocer? deb
WOW WOW WOW!!
I love how many different and unique things you have in your garden.
Oh My Gosh that's fantastic Julie!! I'm TOTALLY inspired!
wow this is awesome... it is a shame we get frost here.... your harvest is truly inspiring.
Wow, what a harvest. How much space did it take to grow that much? I love turmeric.
Hi guys,
Thanks!
@ Maggie - My dehydrator is a Sunbeam but if I were buying another one I would invest in an Excalibur with an adjustable thermostat (which mine doesn't have) to do different fruits etc.
@ Deb - I started out the year before last with rhizomes from my local organic grocer.
@ livinginalocalzone - I estimate the area was probably 1m x 0.5m? I think that would be about 3 yards by 2 yards?
Cheers, Julie
What a fabulous return!
That's a brilliant harvest Julie.
We live in the UK so can only dream of the climate that lets you do this stuff outside. However I've got Ginger, Turmeric and some (fruiting) pineapples in a conservatory at home. More details here:
http://www.pbase.com/celidh/growing_pineapples
The Banana that finally outgrew out conservatory got planted out in the garden last summer. I protected it well over winter but we had an unusually cold one (got down to -11C for several weeks) so I'm a little nervous on whether it will have survived.
Love your website!
G'day Julie,
Here's wishing you a great sustainable 2011! I came across your blog today as I was checking out how best to plant some more tumeric rhizomes I bought from Green Harvest. I've just come up from the garden (a suburban block in Sydney) having planted some more ginger in-between the cumquot and lime trees.
With my six children grown up and gone (so far we have four grandchildren - all the joy and none of the hard work!) I've decided that 2011 is the year I'm going to sort out the house and sell lots of the un-necessary stuff we have. You've provided me with the inspiration I need - keep up the good work.
Cheers,
Michelle
Came across your blog while searching for ways on drying turmeric. It's a great read. I'm slowly learning what grows well and what doesn't in Queensland and I would happily let turmeric take over. Your are right about the staining qualities of it and my hands have looked jaundice for days. The taste surpasses anything I've ever bought.
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