Kitchen Scrap Garden!

Did you ever think it possible to "recycle" your vegetables? As it turns out you sure can! In addition you can have an up close look at the awesome regenerative properties of the common vegetable. Grow, eat and re-grow. Amazing!

Here is a list of some of the common vegetables (and herbs) that can be re-grown from scraps. You can pick and choose based on what you have or what you'd like to grow!

Potatoes

Sweet Potatoes

Onions, Garlic, Leeks and Shallots

Celery 

Carrots, Turnips, Parsnips, Beets

Lettuce and other leafy greens

Basil, Mint, Coriander

You will also need:

A bowl, shallow glass container or jar. Tooth picks or small, firm sticks

Directions:

For Carrots, Beetroots and other root crops:

Take the leafy end of the vegetable and place top up (as if it were planted) in a bowl or shallow glass container in approximately 2 cm of water.

Put your container in a window sill or sunny place and refresh the water everyday. Watch as the shoots begin to regenerate.

Once they have begun to grow you can take your vegetable top outside and plant it in your garden. Be sure to cover the vegetable top but leave the shoots uncovered. Their exposure to the sun will allow the plant to take root and continue to grow.

Here are a few other techniques:

To regrow Potatoes take any chunky sections of peel or potato that contain an "eye" (this is the small indentation from which the new shoots will grow). Leave the potato scrap out overnight to dry slightly then plant in soil with the "eye" facing up in the exact same way you would plant a seed.

For a Sweet Potato that's past its best first put about 2cm of water in a jar. Then cut the sweet potato in half and use toothpicks or small, firm sticks to suspend it at the mouth of the jar. Roots and sprouts should begin to form in a few days. Once the sprouts grow to around 10cm, nip them off and place them in a container of water. Roots will grow from the base of these shoots. As soon as these roots are growing you can take these slips and plant them in your garden.

For Garlic, Onions, Leeks and Shallots simply take a small section of the base of a bulb or stem, with the roots attached, and place it in shallow water. Fairly quickly, new green material will begin to grow from this base section. The re sprouting sections can simply be harvested again. Alternatively, you can plant them out in your garden. Onions and garlic will form new single bulbs, while shallots will divide and form clumps, expanding your harvest every year. Yum!

For herbs such as Basil, Mint or Coriander simply place a stem of about 10cm in a glass of water, making sure the leaves are well above the surface. Observe as roots soon begin to grow. These can then be transplanted into small pots and placed in a window sill or planted directly into your garden bed. Viola! 

Good luck with all your experiments, please share your progress.

Take care and be well!

Mr. Reynolds