Re-grow food from scraps

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Tiny SquirrelEver since I first saw this technique I’ve been doing it. The best result I’ve had is with green onions. They grow to about two feet tall and have a fabulous globe-shaped flower. 

Green onions
I keep replanting the ends

We all want to be able to have fresh fruit and vegetable at our disposal when preparing a delicious meal. The truth is you can have your veggies and eat them too! There are a number of plants that can be re-grown easily.

• Fennel, Scallions, Onions and Leeks can be re-grown if using the white root end. Put it into a glass jar and pour a bit of water over it. Keep it in a well lit area (like the kitchen window) and soon enough you will be able to notice the green leaves sprouting. When it’s of a decent size, cut it away and use in your dishes. Freshen up the water supply and your vegetable is ready to grow again.

• Cabbage, Celery, Romaine Lettuce and Bok Choi also grow from the white root end. Cut it and put into a bowl with some water, place in direct sunlight and after a couple of days new leaves will sprout. If you plant in dirt, or potting soil, water it excessively during the first week.

• Lemongrass should go into a jar with little water, root end immersed, then  transfer to a pot when it begins to grow again. Ready to be hfood-that-will-regrowarvested when the stalks have one foot height.

• Potatoes are maybe the easiest of the foods to re-grow at home. If a potato has ‘eyes’ it will yield more potatoes. Cut the potato into pieces 2 inches square. Each piece must have an eye. Place it in a dry area and after a couple of days plant them 8″ deep in a high-nutrient soil, with the eye facing up. Mound extra soil when the plant begins to grow, just as normal.

• Ginger is also very easy to regrow. The part you are interested in is the thick knobby bit, known as the rhizome. Put a piece in some potted soil with the buds facing up in a moist and warm setting, although not in direct sunlight. When the new roots rise up and the plant is fully grown, just repeat.

• Garlic A single clove of a piece of garlic is enough to use in order to re-grow the entire vegetable. Plant with the root end downward in direct sunlight. Pruning the shoots will force the plant to make a big bulb. The important thing to remember is that – like in the case of ginger – you can re-grow it again and again without buying a new one anytime soon.

• Onions shouldn’t be thrown away but re-grown, mostly because they do classify among the easiest vegetables to sprout `from their ashes`. What you need to do is cut off the root end but ensuring half an inch of onion is on the roots. Plant this in dirt in your garden in a well lit area and keep watering. Not for cold weather areas.

• Sweet Potatoes can be re-grown by planting a part of it under a thin layer of soil in a sunny spot in your garden. When 4 inches tall, remove the shoots and re-plant them a foot apart. They should be ready in four months.

• Carrot Tops and around  an inch of carrot should be held in place with toothpicks on a water-filled glass. Filtered sunlight will make the roots sprout in a couple of days.

• Mushrooms, although hard to re-grow, are not impossible! Fill a pot with a mix of soil and compost. Pace the stalk with the head removed in the mix. Leave the top unburied. In a few days you will know if the base has re-grown a new mushroom.

Thanks to Goods Home Design for this. Visit their site for some great How-to photos.