I have seen numerous articles on how to regrow produce using veggie, fruit, or herb scraps, along with water and dirt but had never tried it. Usually when I’d think about it, it would be after I had tossed the scraps or rotting pieces in the trash. What a waste! (I don’t personally compost because of all the bear in our area.)
And to be honest, I had my doubts as to how easy it really was. I mean, come on…if it were that easy, why wasn’t everyone doing it? And talking about it more? So the other day after I had trimmed celery from the base (the white end,) instead of tossing the base, I put it in a shallow bowl of hot water with the cut-part sticking up. I set it in the window and lo and behold, after about a week I was getting new growth!
Who knew?
Regrow Your Produce Scraps…Super Easy & Only Requires Dirt and Water – 719woman.com
Regrow Your Produce Scraps…Super Easy & Only Requires Dirt and Water – 719woman.com
After the new growth got a bit taller I simply plopped it in a pot of soil and it seemed to be healthy and happy. I don’t know what the end result will be but I’m enough of a believer now that I’m going to try my hand at regrowing other produce, especially garlic and potatoes which sound easy enough.
So I got some great growth and in my delightful haste, plopped it in a pot of dirt but didn’t put the pot in a “safe” area of our yard, out of the deer and squirrel’s reach…got eaten a bit but it has since been moved.
Regrow Your Produce Scraps…Super Easy & Only Requires Dirt and Water – 719woman.com
I buy vegetable seeds each year and am lucky if anything grows between the fact I don’t have an area that stays sunny for long periods of time and we have lots of hungry deer and rabbits in our neighborhood. But I try and try every year, knowing that I’m probably wasting my money when I buy those seeds. But I never thought about keeping the seeds from vegetables or fruits I buy and actually planting them. I seriously don’t know why I never thought about it but I can assure you, I’ll be saving my seeds in the future. And again, if I’m not successful, at least I didn’t waste any money.
Here is a list of 25 (plus) plants that you can regrow using only basic water and/or dirt, along with the easy directions from a great site I just discovered called Epic Gardening.
A few of my favorite herbs to propagate are rosemary and basil. Plop healthy stems in water, change the water as needed, and when you get roots you can plant or just keep in clean water on the windowsill and snip when you need fresh herbs.
719woman.com
719woman.com
Beet greens, romaine lettuce, green onions, lots of different things growing in my windowsill…
719woman.com
719woman.com
719woman.com
I have tried for years to have a “green” thumb and have not really been successful. My problem is lack of money to buy all the pots, dirt, seeds/plants, water bill etc. and when i start to fail I get discouraged and let them die. In the beginning i would get so excited to see the tiniest of pepper growing on my pepper plants or the bud of a flower that i have spent time and energy trying to nurture but after a while the bugs, drought or Texas sun always seems to kill them. I started again this spring more excited and encouraged that I WILL grow stuff this year and be SUCCESSFUL and so far so good. Thanks to the help of my daughters, we have grown some flowers from seeds, Zinnias, and man they stayed in bloom a long time. I started hitting the clearance sections in the gardening department of Walmart, Lowes and Home depot and have found tons of plants on sale as low as $1.00 to $12.00 depending on the plants. All three stores will have a clearance rack somewhere in the back of the store with amazing prices on plants, not just the typical perennials that are out of season and will die soon but all kinds of plants. This year I bought lots of rose bushes, irises, burning bushes, and even a blue spruce tree all under $5 each. I have spent countless hours searching the internet for homemade or DIY fertilizers and pest control. I have even skulked around in the break room at work and grabbed the coffee grounds before they threw them out so i can fertilize my roses… I don’t drink coffee and didn’t want to be seen as the “weird: lady at work stealing coffee grounds. You can also save your egg shells (grind them down into a powder) and use to add potassium to your soil.
I have pretty much stuck to bushes and flowers this year to keep me me motivated and encouraged to keep going. I have had a few unsuccessful attempts at growing veggies this year but I am going to keep trying. I just purchased a device on Amazon called the AVOSEEDO which is a device someone created to help grow avocados from the seeds. I don’t usually spend money buying little gimmicky devices but I really want to go an avocado from the seed. I am Crossing my fingers that it will work.
Rikki, I was laughing as I imagined you getting those coffee grounds! And great info on sales…(I just bought 3 daisy plants for $2 each that need major TLC but they will live, love the clearance plants!) Let us know how the AVOSEEDO works. I’ve personally never been able to grow an avocado from seed but would love to be able to.