Don’t Toss It, Plant It! 10 Vegetables You Can Regrow from Scraps

This is a great project to do with kids and grandkids. Growing your own plants from scraps is an excellent way to reduce waste and save money. Would love to hear from you if you try one.

How to Grow Avocado from Seed in Water

Step 1: Eat delicious avocado

Purchase a healthy-looking avocado from your nearest farmer’s market. This step is important because you don’t want a diseased fruit.

Besides, you can validate its palatability and flavor by eating the mother fruit.

 The best avocado fruit is rich in heart-healthy monounsaturated fat. According to the CDC, Avocados are loaded with nutrients such as dietary fiber, vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin E, potassium, magnesium, and folate. If you’re satisfied with the quality of the avocado consumed, move to the next step.

Step 2: Remove and clean the pit

The avocado seed, also known as the pit, is encased in a hard shell and comprises up to 20% of the whole fruit. To prepare the seed for planting, begin by carefully removing it without any damage.

Next, you want to thoroughly wash it clean.

Washing serves two purposes; the first one is that it removes any extra fats that could cause unexpected rots (although rare) and secondly, it helps with the initial softening of the shell.

Step 3: Pearce the Seed (pit) with toothpicks

Since you’ll need to partially submerge the pit in a glass of water for rooting to take place, we need to find a way to support the seed on the rim of the glass.

The best way to achieve this is to use a couple of toothpicks.

Begin by piercing three or four toothpicks in the seed about halfway down the sides. Make sure the toothpicks are inserted at 45 degrees’ angle about one-third of the way down from the pointed end.

Step 4: Place the avocado seed half-submerged in a glass of water

Next, fill a small glass with water to the brim and place the seed in the glass, flat end down, so the toothpicks rest firmly on the brim. The toothpicks should be supporting the seed so that the pointed half is out of the water and the bottom half is in the water.

Alternatively, you can fill the glass halfway and then place the avocado pit partially submerged. Fill the glass of water until the seed is half submerged.

This option gives you more control over the level of water.

Step 5: Regularly change the water

Remember to change the water regularly to avoid the accumulation of impurities or bacteria which could infect the pit.

You can do this either weekly or after every two weeks.

Step 6: Germination

After three to six weeks a small root should appear from the flat end, and there should be signs of a small shoot at the pointed end.

Tiny leaves will develop and grow on this shoot.

You can give the new shoot another one or two weeks for the main stem to emerge and develop before you transplant the seedling in a container with houseplant potting soil.

Step 7: Transplant the avocado seedling

Transplanting involves planting your seedling into a bigger pot filled with coarse, well-drained potting mix.

Plant the seed so that the pointed end is about an inch above the soil surface. Keep the soil moist at all times until the avocado plant is established.

However, it’s important to avoid either overwatering or under-watering since the former will cause soft stems and curled avocado leaves. While the latter will cause dry leaves which will eventually fall off as the situation deteriorates.

How to Care for Avocado Plants in Pots

You can use the following tips to keep your avocado tree in top shape and guarantee a bountiful harvest. The tree would last you for years.

Fertilizer Application – Fertilize your avocado plant preferably after every three months will a balanced standard houseplant fertilizer. If you can manage a slow-release fertilizer the better. The rule of the thumb is to make sure the fertilizer has a higher Nitrogen ratio in comparison to Phosphorous and Potassium.

Light and Space – Avocado plants require good, indirect light. While patios and balconies are all acceptable points to place your plant, it’s important to provide them with plenty of growing space because ultimately avocado plants grow into trees. This will also require larger growing pots.

Watering – As already mentioned, good quality water applied in the right proportion is very vital for avocado plant growth and development. Always water when the top of the soil feels dry to the touch to avoid overwatering and depriving the roots of oxygen. When watering, thoroughly soak the entire root ball until you see water coming out from the drainage holes.

Pests Management – Avocado plants are prone to insects, such as thrips, mites, and whiteflies. Visible signs of damage can be brown spots on leaves or scarred fruit. Read the articles hyperlinked to learn how to control the corresponding pest.

How to Grow Carrots from Carrot Tops

What you Need

• Fresh Carrots- preferably organic
• Sharp Vegetable Knife
• Chopping Board
• Glass Dish
• Water

Step 1 – Cutting your Carrot Tops

Take your carrots and using the sharp knife and chopping board, remove 2.5cm of the carrot ensuring that it is the end that the greens will grow from. You will want to ensure that you make one nice clean straight cut so that your new plants will be able to stand up unaided.

Step 2 – Watering your Carrot Tops

Next, you will want to place your cut carrot tops in the dish with the stubby growing end facing upwards and add a tiny bit of water. Ensure that you do not add too much water, you only need enough to ensure that the cut end is slightly wet.

Step 3 – Watch them Grow

Place your dish in a nice and light windowsill and check daily to ensure that the plants still have water. As the water is so shallow it will disappear quickly. It will not take long for the carrot to start growing shoots from the top and roots at the bottom.

Step 4 – Plant

Once there are sufficient roots, the carrot tops can be planted into loose, well-draining soil to continue growing until you are ready to harvest the greens to use in a nice salad or you could continue to grow until they flower and harvest the seeds to truly grow your own carrots.

HARVESTING YOUR CARROTS

You cannot harvest carrots from planting carrot tops. Although it will grow an attractive plant.

Another important aspect is that the plants will flower and produce seeds. You can plant these seeds in the garden, and you will get more vegetables after a period of time. These seeds can serve as a very useful treatment for arthritis and various diseases.

How to Grow Celery from Celery Base

Equipment / Tools

• Knife
• Trowel (optional)
• Small container
• Planting container with drainage holes (optional)

Materials

• Bunch of celery
• Fresh water
• Potting soil (optional)
• Slow-release fertilizer (optional)
• A piece of screening, coffee filter, or paper towel (optional)

Step 1 Cut the Bottom Off Your Celery Bunch

Using a large, sharp knife, cut off the bottom of your bunch of celery about 2 inches up from the base. Store the celery stalks until you’re ready to eat them and save the base.

Step 2 Place the Celery Base in a Small Container

Take the base of your bunch of celery and put it in a small container filled with about 1 inch of water. Place the container in a bright area out of direct sunlight.

Step 3 Watch the Celery Grow

Your celery should start to sprout in a day or two. Change the water every couple of days, and make sure the dish doesn’t dry out.

Step 4 Plant the Celery in a Pot

If you want your celery to get bigger, plant it in a pot. First, to prevent soil from coming out, cover the drainage holes in the bottom of your pot with a piece of screening, coffee filter, or paper towel.

Then, fill your pot with potting soil until it is about 2 inches below the rim. Mix in a slow-release fertilizer, following the label directions. Pat down the soil to level it and add water so it becomes damp but not soggy. Next, place the bottom of your sprouted celery base on top of the soil. Add about another inch of soil, so it completely surrounds the celery base. Finally, place the pot in full to partial sunlight, and water often enough to keep the soil damp. Watch your celery grow.

How To Grow Beets From Tops

Step 1: Preparing The Area

Start by preparing the garden by loosening the soil. Ensure all the weeds, debris, and stones are removed. Half spade depth tilling works wonders to loosen the soil Water the garden if you do not use rainwater.

Step 2: Prepare The Beet Top

Prepare freshly cut beet tops by trimming the leaves but avoid tampering with the bud. Ensure the stem length is 1 inch on average. Choose the healthy tops for better yield. These can be gotten from the local grocery or beet farmer.

Step 3: Resizing The Beet Crown

Trim the beet top and leave 1 inch of the actual root. This ensures there is enough allowance above the soil once planted. A root should be strong enough. If the top is too young, it might rot or produce an unhealthy plant.

Step 4: Planting The Beet Top

Planting should be the easiest part. Make half an inch hole ready for planting. Depending on the type of soil, you might consider adding some manure.

Place the cut top in the hole and spread soil on top, leaving an average of one inch above the ground. Water moderately if the soil is dry and wait for the beet to sprout in a few days.

During planting beetroots, spacing is essential. Enough space ensures the plants do not compete for nutrients and water, and the beetroot needs ample room to develop. However, lack of ample space should not discourage you.

• The standard spacing is 1 inch between the plants.
• The depth should be 0.5 inches.
• For better weeding or tilling, the ideal space between the rows is between 12 and 15 inches.

Weeds And Pest Control

Whether growing beets from beet tops or beetroots, the garden needs to be sprayed with herbicides and pesticides. Herbicides will control some common weeds.

Pesticides will, on the other hand, control common pests that attack beetroots. Both reduce the possibility of weeds and pests and usually last the entire crop season.

Patience Is Required

Depending on the beetroot variety, it takes between 50 and 70 days to reach maturity. Harvesting can be done when the root size is that of a golf ball. However, young roots are ideal for salads but waiting for them to fully mature means better yields.

Watering

When ready for harvesting, watering is recommended since it makes the soil soft for pulling when harvesting. To ensure they are damaged, pull the leaves and top firmly in a vertical movement. A gardening fork may be used to dig out the beetroots.

Roots Quality

Only the undamaged roots need to be stored. Nay damaged root needs to be separated from the good ones. This helps avoid bleeding, which affects the taste and color of the harvested vegetables. Before storing, beetroots are graded by size. This helps them stay fresh longer.

How to Grow Garlic in Water

Growing garlic in water indoors is much easier than planting garlic plants outdoors. You don’t have to worry about soil type, weather conditions, mulch, weeds, or pests—all you need is a garlic clove, a glass of water, and some sunlight.

Step 1. Buy Garlic Bulb

Purchase a garlic bulb from your local farmers’ market or grocery store and remove one or more individual cloves (make sure to keep the cloves inside their papery white skin). Sprouting garlic is a simple process: Just wrap your cloves in a damp paper towel and place them in a warm location. After about two days, your cloves should begin to sprout.

Step 2. Place the sprouted clove in a clear container.

You want the pointy sprouted end facing upward. A shot glass is the perfect size for an individual clove. For multiple cloves, a drinking glass or jar works well.

Step 3. Fill a container with water.

The water level should cover a little less than half of the garlic sprout. Room temperature water is ideal.

Step 4. Place the container on a sunny windowsill

. Ensure that the location you choose gets eight to 12 hours of sunlight per day. If the tops of your sprouting garlic cloves start to wilt, they may be receiving too much light, and you should remove your container from the windowsill for one to two days.

Step 5. Replenish the water periodically.

If the water turns a cloudy shade of brown, pour out the dirty water and replenish it with the same amount of clean water.

Step 6. Harvest garlic greens after a week.

Throughout the week you should notice green shoots growing upward and roots growing from the base of the clove. You’ll know your garlic greens are ready to harvest once the shoots are between four and seven inches tall. When harvesting garlic greens, snip off the top third of the shoot; garlic greens are more bitter near their base. Make sure to only harvest what you’re ready to eat; fresh garlic is more flavorful than garlic greens stored in the refrigerator.

How to Grow Ginger

Step 1. Buy ginger root.

To grow the most common variety of ginger—which is Zingiber officinale—you can simply buy ginger root from your local grocery store. When choosing a ginger root to plant, look for roots that are plump and young. Any growth buds on the tips of the root—called the eyes—are a plus, as they are already beginning to grow.

Step 2. Cut your ginger.

You can plant an entire ginger root for one plant or cut it up to plant multiple. Simply cut your ginger into fragments, and allow it to sit out for a day to become dry and form a callus. Make sure that each piece you plant has an eye—which are the nodes at the ends of the plant—so that it will sprout properly.

Step 3. Prepare your soil

Combine potting soil with compost mulch for your ginger. You want to plant your ginger in well-draining soil to prevent rot. Mildly acidic soil is best for ginger, so make sure that your soil or potting mix has a pH of six to six-and-a-half.

Step 4. Choose a location.

Ginger thrives in partial shade with only about two to five hours of sun a day. Take that into account if you’re planting your ginger outdoors. If you are planting your ginger in a pot, use a plastic pot at least 12 inches deep. If you’re in a warm climate, you’ll be able to grow your ginger year-round. If you’re in a cold climate with harsh winters, plant it in a pot so that you can move the ginger indoors in the winter.

Step 5. Plant your ginger.

Bury your ginger roots two to four inches below the soil at least eight inches apart. If you’re planting ginger in a pot, plant only one piece of ginger because it will need plenty of space. If any of the roots are sprouting, plant so that the buds are pointing upwards.

Step 6. Water your ginger

Water your ginger directly after you plant it. Continue to keep your soil moist but not saturated, watering it until just before the soil dries out. In the late summer or fall, the stems of the ginger plant will start to die. When the stems die, stop watering the plant completely.

How to Harvest Ginger

When your ginger stems start to die back—which should take eight to ten months—your ginger is fully matured and ready to harvest. Here is a guide to harvesting ginger.

1. Trim your stems. When your stems begin to turn yellow, your ginger root is nearing maturity and will soon be ready to harvest. Wait until your ginger plant stems have died and the soil has dried out before you harvest. Trim the top of the ginger plant stems two to three weeks before you plan to dig it up.
2. Dig up the entire plant. Using your hands or a small trowel, Gently remove the ginger root from the soil and clip it free from the rest of the ginger plant. You can use your hands or a small trowel to do this.
3. Wash and prepare your ginger. Wash and scrub your ginger roots under running water, being careful to get rid of as much dirt as you can. Your ginger is now ready to be cooked, pickled, dried, or prepared in any way that you like. You can save some pieces of ginger to replant the following season.

How to Grow Leeks from Scraps

Step 1. Buy Leek

Find a healthy Leeks

Step 2. Prepare Leek

Cut about 1 in of the root end off the rest of a leek. Put the root end roots-down in a glass jar and cover it about halfway with water. Choose any cup that’s large enough to hold the whole root end.

Step 3. Placement

Place the cup near a sunny window. Set the cup somewhere like a sunny kitchen windowsill or anywhere else where it will receive lots of natural light, such …

Step 4. Maintenace

Change the water in the cup every 2-3 days to keep it fresh. Carefully pour out the old water.

Step 4. Harvesting

Snip greens off the leek when they’re at least 2–3 in long. Use clean kitchen scissors or garden snips.

How to Grow Shallots from Grocery Store Bulbs

Step 1. Buy French shallots from the grocery store.

Look for shallots that have firm, dry skins and are heavy in size.

Step 2. prepare shallots

pull apart the shallot clusters to form individual bulbs. Some vendors sell individual shallots, rather than clusters, eliminating this step.

Step 3. Prepare soil

Spread 3 inches of compost over the garden area. Dig it into a depth of 8 inches with a shovel.

Step 4. Maintenace

Water the soil frequently to keep it evenly moist but not soggy. Pull weeds by hand early because shallots don’t compete well with them.

Step 5. Harvest

Harvest shallots in the fall when the leaves have died back.

Growing a Pineapple Plant From its Top

Step 1. Locate a fresh Pineapple.

Look for a ripe pineapple with a decent sized top.

Step 2. Prepare top

Cut off the crown. Chop it or twist it off and remove any remaining flesh and bottom leaves, leaving a clean stem.

Step 3. Begin Rooting

Using toothpicks secured in three spots around the base, float the pineapple top on a jar full of water.

Step 4. Growing

Place it on a windowsill and change the water daily. Tip: don’t throw out the water, use it to water your indoor plants. Roots will soon start to form and once they’re about 10 cm long, it’s time to get planting.

Step 5. Planting

Fill a large pot (30 cm wide or more) with quality potting mix, make a hole big enough and plant the top. Add a good layer of mulch on top and give your new plant a good watering.

Step 6. Placement to grow

Put it a spot in the garden that’s sheltered and gets the sun most of the day.

Another method is to leave the cut pineapple to dry for about a week and covering the cut with powdered Sulphur to stop it from rotting then planting it in soil.

Tips for Growing Pineapple

Pineapple like full sun, free draining soil and don’t need much water so only water your plant about once a week. If you overwater, the plant will show signs of stress and can end up with root rot.

The leaves looked scorched and developed brown tips. If it has been overwatered, gently removed it from the pot, put it in shade and let the roots to dry out for a while. Then repot it in fresh dry soil. Since the roots might still be wet, only watered it every 7 to 10 days.

Growing More Sweet Potato’s From One Potato

Step 1. Choose a sweet potato.

Slips are small sprouts that are grown from pre-existing sweet potato plants. You can choose to order these online or from a garden center, but you can also grow them at home easily. Find a mature, healthy sweet potato plant from the store or a friend’s garden

Step 2. Make sure you have the right climate.

Sweet potatoes are a tropical plant. This means that they grow well in USDA hardiness zones 9, 10, and 11. This area includes most of the southern and south-western United States. If starting your own slips, start sprouting them in March or April. Slips should be planted in the ground in May or June.

Step 3. Prepare your potato.

When you’ve gotten your hands on 1-2 healthy sweet potatoes, stick them in the sink and wash them well. Then, cut your potato in half. If the potato is particularly large, consider cutting it into thirds or fourths.

Step 4. Fill a jar with water.

The way your slip-growing works, is that you’ll place your potato half in/half out of a container of water. Use a jar or a glass cup with an opening large enough to fit your potato and fill the whole thing with water.

Step 5. Place your potato in the water.

Stick 4-5 toothpicks out of the sides of your potato equidistant apart and near the middle, like spokes on a wheel. Place the potato into the jar/glass of water with the cut side down, with the toothpicks holding half of the potato out by balancing it on the rim of the glass.

• Do this for every slice of potato that you have, with each section in a different ja

Step 6. Add some light and heat.

Move the jar with the potato onto a windowsill that gets a lot of sunlight.

Step 7. Let your slips grow.

Wait for 2-4 weeks for the small leafy slips to begin sprouting out of the top of the potato.

Step 8. Harvest the slips.

When the top of your potato is covered in slips, carefully twist each one off individually. They won’t have roots yet and will resemble small leaves with a short stem.

Step 9. Put your slips in water.

Fill a shallow bowl with a bit of water, around 1″ or less depending on the number of slips you have. Set the slips in the bowl so that the stem is submerged in the water. Leave them like this for several days, until roots have formed from the bottom.

• Add fresh water once a day or so to keep the slips healthy.
• If any of the slips are not forming roots or begin to wilt, throw them out.

Planting your Sweet Potatoes

1. Get your slips out for planting. After 2-3 days, your slips should have developed roots at he bottom. At this point, dump out the water in the bowl and bring your slips out for planting. These are best placed directly into your garden rather than in individual planters to keep the roots intact.

2. Dig your holes. Sweet potato slips need a bit more space than some other garden vegetables, so dig your holes 12–24 inches (30.5–61.0 cm) apart each. They need be only as deep as the root ball on the bottom of the slips and about ½ an inch up the base of the plant.

4.Plant your potatoes. Place each small slip in your pre-dug holes and cover the stems with soil about ½ of an inch up the base. The leafy part of the potato plant will begin to sprawl in vines outwards while the roots will produce the tubers between 6–12 inches (15.2–30.5 cm) deep in the soil.

5. Water the plants. At first planting the sweet potatoes will require a lot of water. Over time, you should reduce the amount that you water them until they receive moisture only about once a week. Begin watering daily, knocking off days from your watering schedule as each week progresses.

Have fun, safe money and enjoy your harvests of food you grew.

#regrow #veggie