If you live in the subtropics and eat curry, you should be growing turmeric. It's another set and forget plant that grows in summer when not much else does and always have an over supply come harvest time.
From two separate plants this year we've harvested 4kgs, which will probably do us for a long time, and these plants do not take up much space.
It's a beautiful plant and you can eat most of it! The flowers are stunning (and edible too!). Once you have it in your garden it's likely you'll never see it disappear as it dies back over winter (even in our climate) it bounces back on the tiniest bit of root left in the ground the next year.
If you're finding your harvests minimal, leave it in the ground for two years and you'll have a bumper crop.
Best location
We've found whilst they look better in shade - the leaves are greener, they grow perfectly well with a bit of sun.
Soil Preparation
Whilst in ideal conditions you want a well draining loamy soil, however we put ours in our clay soil and still managed a half kg harvest. The main thing is they need water. They love the aquaponics and are a good one as they don't clog up the system like some root systems can. It also does well in a pot!
Harvesting
The average harvest you'll be looking at each year is around half a kg. You can definitely leave the plant in the ground and harvest what you need during the warmer months. It will dry out slightly after it dies back, but will bounce back to life when the warmer weather kicks into gear.
If you need to harvest it all and have a huge haul, you can store it in a bucket of dry sand (for replanting or even eating fresh).
Check out our latest harvest here in this video where we harvested 3.5kgs off one plant.
If you're looking for ways to make a ground turmeric you can find how we do it here.
