How to Grow Turmeric

Steps on growing Turmeric

1. Locate in a partly shaded part of your garden.
2. Turmeric does best in a well drained soil enriched with compost and well-rotted manure
3. Plant at 1m spacings
4. If planting rhizomes, plant at 5-10cm deep
5. Water regularly when getting established
6. Keep water to a minimum over late autumn and winter, then ramp up watering again as the weather warms up in spring

Top tips for growing Turmeric

• Reduce watering over the cooler months.
• Foliage can be cut back to the ground in late autumn/winter, as it will reshoot in spring
• Turmeric is a very productive plant, producing a bucketful of harvestable roots from one rhizome in a single growing season

Where can Turmeric grow?

If you garden north of Sydney you are lucky enough to be able to grow turmeric in your garden - southerners can try growing it in pots, as long as they get plenty of sun.

Elegantly pleated elliptical leaves grow from the rhizome - these canna-like leaves emerge during spring, and are year round in the tropics.

Cooking with Turmeric

Turmeric roots are rich in antioxidants and are ground to make the brilliant yellow spice with its warm earthy flavour, so well known for its use in Indian and Asian cuisines.

Try cooking fish wrapped in turmeric leaves or decorating a salad with its flowers.