From Scraps to Garden: How to Grow Your Own Plants from Kitchen Scraps
Do you ever find yourself throwing away kitchen scraps without a second thought? Did you know that those scraps could be the start of your own personal garden? Yes, you read that right! You can grow a garden right from your kitchen scraps. Let's get started on this exciting journey!
Pineapple: When you cut the top off of a pineapple, don't throw it away! Let the top dry for a couple of days and then peel the skin off of it. Leave a few extra bottom leaves on the pineapple top to expose the stem. Submerge the top in a glass of water and place the glass in a sunny window. After a couple of weeks, roots will start to emerge, and after a few months, the roots will be fully developed. Plant the pineapple top in a container up to the level of the leaves, and voila! You have your very own pineapple plant.
Ginger: If you have a piece of ginger that's starting to go bad, plant it in a container and keep the soil moist. After planting, wait for the shoots to emerge and after nine months, you'll have your very own fresh ginger.
Garlic: If you have a garlic bulb that's going bad, break it open and extract the cloves. Take a stick and make holes in your garden, about 4 to 6 inches apart. Plant the garlic bulb flat and down with the pointy end up. Cover the bulb with soil and keep the soil moist. After nine months, you'll be able to harvest your very own freshly grown garlic.
Green onions: Don't throw away the bottom part of the green onions with the roots! Plant the bottom part in a container of your choice and the green onions will start to regrow. Harvest the green onion shoots and add them to the food of your choice.
Lettuce: Instead of throwing away the bottom part of lettuce, plant it in a container of your choice, and the lettuce will start to regrow. Harvest the lettuce leaves as they grow.
Potatoes: If your potatoes are developing eyes, cut the parts with eyes, eat the other half, and let the piece with eyes dry out for a week. After the piece with the eyes dries out, plant the potatoes with eyes about two inches deep in the ground and water every two to three days. After two to three weeks, the potato plant will start to emerge. After three months, you can harvest freshly grown potatoes.
Sweet potatoes: If you have shoots coming out of your sweet potatoes, submerge that part in water, and sweet potatoes will start to develop shoots. Break apart these shoots from the sweet potato, including the roots, and plant them in the ground. After three to four months, you can start harvesting sweet potatoes.
Avocado: Instead of throwing away the seed of an avocado, submerge it halfway in water and place it next to a sunny window. After two to three weeks, roots will start to grow, and after four months, you'll have an avocado tree.
Peppers: Instead of throwing away the seeds from sweet or hot peppers, save some of these seeds and dry them out. Plant these seeds in spring when the danger of frost is over, and you'll have freshly grown peppers.
Tomatoes: Dry the seeds from tomatoes and plant them in spring when the danger of frost is over. After three months, you'll be able to harvest freshly grown tomatoes.
Basil: Instead of throwing away the stem of basil, plant it in water and wait for the roots to grow. Then, plant the basil cutting in the container of your choice.