We all know what it’s like to come home from the grocery store and dig into the strawberries only to find them too bland, too tart, or too far gone.And when we get a nice, sweet, juicy batch we inhale them within a
06.06.2023 - 19:59 / gardenerspath.com / Nan Schiller
Grow a Superfood in Your Own Backyard: Cultivating Tuberous Turmeric Curcuma longaIf you’ve ever feasted on Indian food, you’ve undoubtedly enjoyed the pungent flavor and golden color of turmeric, Curcuma longa, aka Indian saffron, an herbaceous perennial in the Zingiberaceae family of plants that is related to ginger and cardamom.
A chemical compound called curcumin found in the fleshy rhizomes of this plant is responsible for the bright hue, as well as numerous potential health benefits.
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In this article, you will learn all you need to know to grow, harvest, and use this plant.
Let’s dig in!
Cultivation and HistoryIf you live in USDA Hardiness Zones 8 to 11, you can grow perennial C. longa by planting its fleshy roots as you would ginger or potato.
You may also have success in fringe zones, provided you apply a thin layer of mulch during the dormant winter season, with adequate drainage to inhibit rotting.
Plants produce foliage clumps about three feet high and wide, while below ground, the rhizomes mature into finger-like tubers.
By July or August, the blossom buds begin to open. The flowers are yellow and appear inside large white bracts that are sometimes tinged with pink.
If grown outside its optimal zones, C. longa performs as an annual, dying off at the season’s end.
In these areas, you can dig up the rhizomes in the fall, remove the foliage, and store them for the winter in a slightly moist medium like sawdust or vermiculite. You can also sprout them indoors during the winter as described in the propagation section that follows.
Turmeric has long been used in Ayurvedic medicine, which dates back thousands of
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