Grow Your Own Magazine

Can I grow lemon grass outdoors in north - west England?
Is it too late now to start?
Any recommended suppliers, or shall I just trawl through a few seed catalogues?
And any other tips and comments would be appreciated Thanks

You certainly can not grow it outdoors in the UK. It is a tropical plant, and needs to be kept indoors.

The easiest way to get plants, I have found, is to buy a pack of stalks from a supermarket, put them in a jar of water, changing the water regularly. They eventually start to root. Then you can pot them up. They throw out side shoots, which you can use for cooking.

valmarg

As a houseplant, would it need any special treatment, or is just growing it on a sunny windowsill going to be enough to get lemon grass? If so, I might give it a go!

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Warning: I have a dangerous tendency to act like I know what I'm talking about.

Morning! I've grown lemon grass from seed and will be starting some off again today if I get time. I just put in deepish pot, sprinkled the seed, and put on very sunny windowsill and it thrived.

I tried rooting shop-bought stems but had no real luck. Much prefer the sunny 'sill approach - looks nice too!

I've got 20 in 3" pots from seed that I sowed in the Spring. Slow job, so far ...

Rhona, I have bought several packets of seed and the germination rate to date is nil.

I have, however, had great success with rooting the shop-bought stalks.

I shall have to persevere with the seed.

valmarg