Saflax Cardamom

Cardamom is an indispensable spice in the kitchen, and not just during the Christmas baking season. Its unique aroma also adds a wonderful flavour to tea, coffee and lots of ohter dishes. Usually, it's the fruit pods with their reddish-brown seeds that are harvested, but the leaves of the plant also have that distinctive cinnamon-like cardamom scent.

Our tips:

• Pre-soak seeds in lukewarm water overnight before sowing
• Cover the seeds only lightly with soil when sowing
• Cover the cultivation container with cling film and provide holes to protect the soil from drying out
• Remove the film every two to three days for two hours to prevent mould formation
• Place the cultivation container in a bright and sunny spot at around 25°C
• Keep the soil surface moist but not wet
• The plant can be further propagated in spring by dividing the rhizome
• Protect from blazing sun
• Only water when the soil surface has dried out
• Fertilise every two weeks from April to September
• If the soil surface is covered with shoots, divide the cardamom or move it to a larger container
• Overwinter at 16°C; spray the leaves more frequently, but only water enough so that the root ball does not dry out