10 Plants That You Can Always Regrow From Kitchen Scraps
We love to regrow kitchen scraps, and propagate vegetable and herb trimmings for our garden. It is such a rewarding and fun thing to do, especially in winter and early spring.
Many vegetables and herbs from the grocery store will regrow easily in water or in soil. You can regrow fresh greens on a window sill indoors, or get a jump start on your herb and vegetable garden by regrowing kitchen scraps.
This article is going to show you exactly that, explaining how to regrow 10+ plants from food scraps. You can grow fresh new leaves or even entirely new plants from the parts of plants that we don’t eat anyway and would otherwise go to waste!
Note: Some of the methods require plant pots and soil. A loose potting soil is best for all of the methods. You’ll also need different sized pots, however you can consider up-cycling or re-using plastic ice cream tubs and other containers.
Here are 10 plants you can regrow from scraps:
1. Garlic— Choose a large clove of organic garlic, place it with the root down into the soil, and place the pot in a sunny area, exposed to direct sunlight.
2. Carrot greens- Set aside about two inches on the end of the carrot, and submerge half of it in a dish with one inch water. Keep it in a sunny place for two weeks, and the new leaves will appear. In about a month, the tops will be bushy and roots will have appeared on the cut end.
3. Sweet potatoes— Sweet potatoes sprout easily in water, and then you can replant them for a longer crop.
4. Potatoes- You can use any part of the potato that has an ‘eye’ on them (visible sprouts). Leave the scraps to dry out overnight and then plant them in soil with the eyes facing up.
5. Celery- Dip the part of the celery with the root in a shallow dish with water to sprout. In about a week, transplant the stalk to a soil-filled container.
6. Beets- Place the beet tops, (where the leaves and stems join onto the root), in a container with water for a few days. Transplant them when they sprout or use them right away.
7. Scallion- Cut off the root of the scallion, leave about 1″ to 2″ of the stem, and place it in a jar with water.
8. Lemongrass- Stalks of lemongrass can be hard to come by and are sometimes quite expensive. You can get more bang for your buck by growing the ends in water.