How to Grow Ginger Root in Dry Climates

Locate an ideal planting site for ginger in your yard. In a dry climate, the first concern is proximity to irrigation, especially a spigot with garden hose. The soil should be uncompacted and have some natural fertility. Avoid highly alkaline soil, such as soil next to concrete foundations or sidewalks. Ginger needs partial shade to partial sun — anywhere from four to eight hours of sun across the summer day. Lastly, to prevent the ginger from drying out, choose a planting area that is shielded from wind, especially from spring through fall.

Cultivate the soil with a garden shovel to a depth of 12 inches. Turn the soil over, and break up soil clumps with your hands or the back of the shovel's blade. Each ginger root rhizome plant needs at at least 9 square feet of space, or a prepared bed 3 feet by 3 feet or larger.

Lay 5 to 8 inches of fresh compost or well-rotted manure atop the planting bed and incorporate it into the planting bed. Organic matter adds nutrients to the soil, and improves soil texture and both its moisture-retention and drainage characteristics.

Dig a wide, shallow planting furrow 4 to 6 inches deep when there's no more threat of frost and the soil has warmed to at least 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the ginger root rhizome horizontally into the furrow, orienting the side with dormant eyes, or buds, upward to the sky. Backfill the organic-rich topsoil atop the rhizome and tamp it down gently.

Water the planting area lightly to maintain an evenly but barely moist soil. Once the leaves pop up from the ground, you can gradually increase watering to sustain moister ground. In the heat of the summer, when temperatures get above 80 degrees Fahrenheit every day, the soil can be very moist to even slightly soggy. Heat and soil moisture create ideal ginger-growing conditions.

Apply a water-soluble fertilizer in tandem with regular watering every two to four weeks in the heat of the growing season. Any balanced formula, such as 10-10-10 or 20-20-20, suffices. Because leaves lead to faster growth and enlargement of the underground rhizomes, fertilizers rich in nitrogen are fine, such as 15-10-10. Do not fertilize during the cool months of the year or when the rhizome is dormant and no leaves are above ground.

Allow the ginger plant to grow for at least five months in the warm or hot, frost-free weather conditions of your region's climate.

Reduce watering and stop fertilizing when the days get cooler and shorter, and you notice the once-green ginger leaves start to slowly yellow and growth seems to stop. This is natural, as the ginger always goes dormant in these conditions. Frost may kill back the leaves, but the underground roots will remain insulated and safe. Dig up the rhizomes to use as fresh ginger. Rhizomes may also be dried or frozen for use later.