Did you know that instead of throwing away your fruit and vegetable scraps you can instead use them to grow a whole new plant? With a little bit of patience and some TLC you can grow spring onions, avocados, potatoes, all from parts of the vegetable you would normally put in the bin. We’ve put together a few tips on how best to re-grow your vegetables; you don’t need a big garden to be successful, just a sunny windowsill and some water for most of these plants.
Regrow Spring Onions in a Week
Once you’ve cut the root end from your spring onion all you need to do is place the roots in a small jar of water for new green shoots to grow. You’ll need to make sure they have plenty of sunlight and keep the water topped up, but within a week you’ll have new green shoots. This one is great for those recipes that need just a small amount of spring onion as a garnish (or for those who are a little more impatient and want to see their new veg grow quickly!).
Grow garlic scapes from one clove
Have you ever had garlic in the cupboard for too long and it’s started to grow little shoots? Although you might not want to put this into your meals, this sprouted clove is perfect for regrowing new garlic scapes. The scapes taste just like garlic, only a little milder, and are great for adding to salads and stir-fries. You can even use the scapes in recipes that ask for garlic (you’ll just need to use 3 or 4 times the amount of scapes compared to garlic cloves).
Keep your garlic clove unpeeled and sit in a small glass of water, making sure that only the bottom of the clove is submerged in water (if you cover the entire clove it will go off). Keep this in a sunny spot and after a few days you’ll have scapes. Once they’re several inches tall, you can then take cuttings off the tops and use in whatever you’re cooking!
Grow new leeks from the unused roots
Leeks don’t only make a delicious soup but are low in calories and high in nutrients (especially magnesium and Vitamins A and C). When you’ve cut off all the tops of your leeks to use and you’re left with the white root end, place the root end in a shallow container of water. Place the container in the sun and change your water occasionally. After a week or so the leeks will start to regrow themselves and you can use the new green shouts to make tasty meals. The leeks are so easy to regrow, that if you put a few into your water, you may end up growing leeks faster than you can use them.
Turn old potatoes into a plant
We have all seen the sprouts grow on potatoes when they’ve been forgotten about in the cupboard. Did you know these sprouts are actually called potato eyes and are what you’ll need to regrow a potato plant? This one is a* little trickier* than our other plants and may not always be successful due to treatments given to potatoes we get from supermarkets to stop them shooting. An alternative if you’re very keen to grow your own potatoes is to buy seed potatoes from the garden centre, but we wanted to share how in case you want to experiment with your potatoes that are past their best. You will need one potato with potato eyes, a plant pot and some soil (we’d recommend keeping in a pot rather than planting straight into your garden to make sure the potato plant doesn’t damage other plants growing in the garden). The potato you’re using will need to be about the size of a golf ball to have enough nutrients to grow a new plant, and if it’s any bigger we would suggest cutting down to the size of a golf ball making sure there is eyes on any pieces you plant. Once your potato has sprouted and is in golf ball size pieces you need to let it dry out for a couple of days to avoid it rotting, once it’s slightly drier plant 2-3 inches down into loose, well drained soil. It’s really important to keep watering your potato once it’s planted as they’re very thirsty, they also thrive in bright sunlight so make sure they’re in a sunny spot. After a few weeks you’ll start to have potato shoots, and once these shoots are 8-10 inches tall mound some soil around the stem (this will help produce a bigger crop of potatoes!). Once you have your plant it’s time to wait patiently; it’ll be 3 months or so until new potatoes will start to develop underground.
Long term avocado project
Avocados have really become really popular over the past few years, being used for breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner. Not only are they a tasty part of a meal but are one of the only fruits to contain healthy fats. Avocados are often referred to as a superfood, with each avocado having about 15 grams of healthy fat and over 20 vitamins and minerals!
If you have a bit more time on your hands (we’re talking years until you will have a fullgrown avocado tree) you can use the avocado seed to grow a new plant. Here’s how!
Once you’ve eaten the avocado, clean the seed making sure to keep the brown skin on the seed as this is its seed cover. The root end of the seed will be from the wider end of the avocado and this is the end you’ll need to have in water (if you’ve already eaten the avocado and don’t know which way up it was, the top of the seed is slightly pointier). Once the seed is clean, you’ll need to pierce with four cocktail sticks so you’re able to rest the bottom of the seed in a glass of water. Once your seed has its cocktail stick supports, sit into a glass of water on a sunny windowsill (making sure you keep changing the water every few days). You’ll need to be patient as your sprout will take about 8 weeks to grow, making sure there is always water for the seed. Once it’s about 6 inches tall you can pot into a plant pot with soil and place on a sunny windowsill. It’s hard to say if your tree will produce fruit, with some taking up to 15 years to start yielding fruit. Even if you do have avocados within a few years, don’t expect them to look like their parents, with naturally grown avocados being different shapes and sizes.
Pineapple house plants
Although your pineapple top is unlikely to grow a new pineapple (unless you’re an expert gardener with a lot of time) it can be used to grow a fun house plant. Make sure you pick a pineapple with leaves you like the look off, and once the top is cut off and you’ve eaten the fruit, leave it to dry for a few days. You can sprout the top in water but you’ll probably have more luck putting in a plant pot with some soil. To grow roots you will need to make sure you’re watering regularly and it has loads of indirect light. It takes about 2 months for roots to develop, and once it’s got its roots firmly into the soil you can give it a little more light. Once you have a tropical looking, rooted plant you will need to keep indoors as pineapple plants are not made for the colder Welsh weather.
And of course if you’re not into your gardening you can always use these off cuts to make tasty soup and stocks!
Bwyd Da Mon x