According to the “rule book”, turmeric can be grown outside in zones 8 – 11. According to the USDA planting zone, I’m in Zone 7a but because of the valley we’re in, I plant according to zone 6a. What I’ve done in the past when living in zones 6 or 7 was to plant the turmeric inside in pots in about February, bring it out on sunny warm days and back in on cold nights (or days).
Last year, I don’t even know how it happened but I left two turmeric plants in the ground all year. We had several nights below zero and several days in a row when our high wasn’t above zero. I wasn’t concerned about the plants because I didn’t remember they were out there so I was surprised when I had turmeric come popping up in the spring.
These two plants produced more than I normally get!
I think I’m going to go ahead and replant a few of the rhizomes, add a thick layer of mulch and see what happens. I’ll also save some, start it in pots and transplant it into the garden in the spring.
Heather Watts says
Turmeric grows like a weed here in Australia. I leave it in the ground all year round. I also have some in those huge grow bags and divide them up every second year. I replant them into some smaller pots to give away to my community groups, when there are a few leaves showing. The Indian community revere the plants and use them at a certain time of the year for their celebrations, so are really grateful when I offer them up
judy.blog@gmail.com says
That’s great and so nice of you. I guess having turmeric be so seasonal is one price I pay for loving snow. 🙂
I was surprised it survived in the ground here, especially with the extreme cold we had last year. I’m anxious to see if that was just weird or if it will do it again.