The weather is warming up, and that always makes me think of gardening. I love spring, if for no other reason than the opportunity it allows me to dig in the dirt! “But I live in an apartment!” you say? Lament not, my small space dwelling friend. I too have very little space to plant, but I make good use of our tiny deck.
Something new I planted this year was lemongrass. That’s right, the lovely-tasting lemony reed that you usually see in Thai food. Annoyed with the fact that I was always stuck with the dried out twigs from the asian grocery down the street, I set about growing my own. It’s actually really simple:
1. Buy some cut lemongrass in your local Asian market. Make sure that it’s not too dried out, with at least some sign of life visible in the woody base. Buy six to twelve stalks of the stuff.
2. Cut off the top of the stalk, leaving about seven inches from the base to where you cut it. Stick your now-shorter lemony twigs in fresh, clean water and allow them to sit there for a while. Make sure not to let them dry out! Always make sure that at least two and a half inches of the stalk is submerged in water.
It should look something like this (the greenery won’t look like this for a few weeks):
Next, you should see little green shoots beginning to extend from the top of the stalk. This will probably happen very quickly, and long before you see any roots:
After a few weeks, your lemongrass will be quite long and begin to take over your kitchen (see first photo above!). You should begin to see roots, looking like this:
Once you’ve got a solid root base going, as it shows in the photo, it’s time to transplant them. You can plant them in regular potting soil, and you want to plant them in circles, five or six around. Make sure to be gentle with the roots, as they’re really brittle and will break off. It’s a good idea to plant them before the roots go crazy to avoid damaging them.
Lemongrass likes hot, sunny spots (remember – they’re tropical). Water frequently. Soon you will start to see little babies popping up all over, looking like little green leafy straws… in the right climate, these things can reach up to nine feet, but here in the states, they’ll probably not get any taller than four or five.
When they’re big enough to eat, cut them and enjoy the fruits (or grass) of your labor.
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Awesome! It never occured to me to grown my own. Here’s a recipe for Lemongrass Corn Saute With Grilled Tofu and Quinoa I just posted that would be a good use for this wonderful stuff.
Great idea. I started some from seeds and its end of July in Western NY and all I have is some very small heads. I’ll try and pot them for the winter and see if I can nurse them along until Spring.
I’ll try your idea next Spring. thanks.
OMG! This looks so easy!
Hi there! I’m so glad to have found your website. I was unsure about the progress of some lemongrass that I left in a jar of water. Now that I’ve seen your pictures I’m looking forward to some lemongrass plants! The shoots are growing on mine but can’t see any roots yet (at least not to the naked eye, and its been 2 weeks). They are currently sat on a window sill in my south facing kitchen.
If you haven’t seen any roots in 2 weeks, then they were probably too dry to start with. Stalks from the grocery are often already dried out, and then it’s almost impossible to grow roots.
I’ve had the best luck finding stalks from farmers markets where they were cut most likely that morning. My last batch came from the Thai festival here in LA.
SC, so glad to hear I could be of help! Once they’re more grown, it would be great if you’re report back and let me know how they’re doing.
It’s nice to see that it works for some ppl… As for me, well i planted my lemongrass in September with well developed roots. Now it’s winter, and i keep it on the window where it is still warm, but i have only one stalk (the one i planted) and it grew quite tall (with leaves it grew about one meter). Now i have a problem coz it stopped, it’s not growing any more stalks, and i do not know what to do. Maybe it’s the type of soil, or the weather (recently it’s been below 0, but lemongrass is just above the radiators on the window). Do you have any suggestions on how to grow it better.
Thanx
Hi Alma,
Lemongrass likes warm, tropical weather, so it makes sense that it would stop growing when it gets cold. Remember that this comes from Southeast Asia, where it’s humid out! Maybe bring your plant inside during the winter to keep it warm?
Yeah, i do keep it inside, it’s on my kitchen window coz it’s hot there, but it’s still not growing. Besides it i have carry leaf plant, and it’s been growing just fine. Both i brought from Malaysia last August. How often should i water my lemon grass? Do you think if i cut off the leafs, it will start growing new stalks?
Thanx
Hi
I live in the UK and was wondering if anyone thinks it is possible to grow it over here. I was thinking of keeping it in doors as our house is very warm all the time, also I have looked at the stalks in the supermarket and not sure if they would be ok, think it must take about a year to get here as they all seem very dry and unappetising
Any help would be welcome
Thanks
I bought my at the high street supermarket (jt’s J.S.S…….). There are 2 stalks in the packet, one rooted in 2 weeks but the shoot started to rot, the other one has not root but the shoot grew green and long. I planted them both anyway because I want them to be established before the winter. Oh, I live in Kent BTW. I will update with progress.
Good luck to all,
Hi
I have had to plant my lemon grass in a very large garden pot as it got too big for the windowsill, it now stands on the floor in the dinning room. Can anyone tell me when I should be able to harvest it and also how do I go about it
Betty good luck
Fresh lemongrass and fresh galangal root. I would totally love BOTH of those. I’ve even looked into growing one of those trees they get the lime leaves from but I guess they don’t do well here either. Maybe we should all just up and move to Thailand and eat every meal from the street vendors.
Laurel mine has grown so well it looks like a house plant. Which part of the world do you live in, if its near me I might be able to send you some