Bring your vegetable garden inside! You can plant vegetables inside to grow all year round or to start inside during the delicate germination stage. Whatever you choose, with summer approaching it’s the perfect time to start growing your own food!

Guide for growing vegetables from kitchen scraps.

This guide is the perfect start if you are new to growing indoors. It’s easy and a good way to learn how to grow vegetables from kitchen scraps while saving money on the produce bill. There are a few ways to start with scraps, in this article we will look at growing in water and starting them indoors in soil. Growing plants in water alone is great for a home kitchen because they require less attention and pruning, just make sure to watch your water levels. Whether you’re growing food or just starting house plants from clippings, starting plants in water is best.

Green Onion

Arguably the easiest to grow in water, green onion offers the perfect flavor to any dish and with just some water and the whites of the onions you can have green onion all year. The best part is that you only have to buy it once.

Instructions for Growth:

Add approximately 1/4 cup of water to a glass of medium height. You can also use a plant terrarium which is great not only for green onions but for starting some house plants as well. You will then use the white parts of your green onions and place them in the water. Make sure the water is just above the white parts or the bottom will develop a slime preventing the plant from growing properly. Conversely, you want to check it every few days to make sure the water hasn’t dried up. Within a week or two your green onions should be ready to harvest and as long as you keep the water clean and harvest only the green parts of the plant you will have a steady supply of green onion for meals all grown from leftovers.

how to grow green onions at home in water. — Cut green onion just above white part and place it in a medium height container with approximately 1/4 cup water or until it is just above the white part.

Romaine Lettuce

With summer salad season coming, the time to grow romaine lettuce is now. The best part is you can grow it from the scraps of a head of romaine lettuce and water which is gonna make salad season easier on your wallet.

Instructions for Growth

Cut the bottom of the romaine lettuce about 2″ from the bottom. In a dish that is small and shallow place the lettuce with just enough water to cover the bottom. Growth will start in the middle of the lettuce but you won’t harvest until you have all the leaves. Once this happens you harvest the leaves on the outside but leave the middle. This way the lettuce will keep growing,

Planting romaine lettuce in water for home kitchen use — Cut the romaine approximately 2 inches from the bottom and in a small, shallow dish place the root. Growth will begin in the middle but won’t be ready to harvest until all leaves are grown.

Celery

Another staple for the summer season is celery, whether in a salad or a veggie tray celery gives that cool crunch everyone enjoys in the summer. Re-growing it from the scraps means you can have celery all year and save yourself a bundle at the grocery store.

Instructions for growth

In the same way as the romaine lettuce, cut the bottom of the celery approximately 2 inches from the bottom ( NOTE: this method is for the bunch celery not the individual stalks). In a small, shallow dish place the celery in just enough water to fill the bottom. You should start to see growth in just a few days but it could take a little while before you start to see full stalks.

Growing celery from kitchen scraps — Celery grows well hydroponically. To do do cut the celery about 2″ from the bottom and place in a small, shallow bowl with water just about the whites. Growth will be noticeable after a week or so but it may take longer for fully grown celery stalks.

Now we’ll will move onto plants grown from scraps but planted in soil.

Potatoes

Potatoes are excellent to grow from scraps but need a little love in the beginning. Once they have started they are a hearty vegetable to grow.

Instructions for growth.

You can grow potatoes from the scraps as well. Cut a piece of the potato scraps 1-2″ making sure to leave the shoots or “eyes” attached. Make sure the potatoes are going to seed with “eyes” or shoots coming from the potato, this is what causes growth. Leave the potato pieces out for a couple of days to dry then place them in the soil with shoots facing up and cover with soil.

Growing potatoes from kitchen scraps — Cut seed potato in to 1-2″ pieces being sure the “eyes” or shoots of the potato are still attached. Once planted the shoots will be planted facing upward in the soil
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Peppers

Peppers complete the summer salad in my mind and learning to grow them from the seeds is a game changer!

Instructions for growth:

There are a couple of ways to start growing peppers:

A. Fold them in wet paper towel- take a few seeds from your pepper and fold the into a wet paper towel and store in a Ziploc bag. In a week you should see the seed begin to germinate at which point you can plant them in a pot of soil.

B. Fill the bottom of a plastic clamshell container with soil. Plant the seeds about 1 cm into the soil, water and close the lid. The plastic container will act like a mini greenhouse for the seeds. You can also get an indoor/outdoor greenhouse that is specifically made for smaller spaces, so if your space/weather is an issue this might solve that problem.

Once the plant begins to grow you will want to transplant at the 5″ and 15″ marks in order to make sure the plants have enough room to grow. The peppers will initially be green but if you want them red leave them to ripen longer.

Growing peppers from scraps — Growing peppers requires a little more work than most of the plants listed. It’s so worth i

Basil

I love having an indoor herb garden in the kitchen, you always have fresh herbs for your favorite dishes.

Instructions for growth

Basil grows best in soil but it can be grown hydroponically as well. The key to growing basil is pruning. Once the plant has sprouted you want to harvest the basil by the stem. The basil plant with regenerate with an extra stem and extra leaves which is the key to grow basil in your herb garden all year long.

Pruning basil for endless supply — Growing Basil successfully is about pruning. Pruning basil by the stem instead of just harvesting the leaves means you will have an endless supply of basil.

Happy Growing!

I hope you enjoyed this little foray into home growing from kitchen scraps. Starting your own garden will help you eat healthier while also cutting down on the grocery bill. Have fun growing your own garden!

Curiosity Corner

In this new segment I will be letting my curiosity run wild. The first Curiosity corner is: Growing pineapple from scraps.

I have seen this several times in my research over the years. I’ve never tried it but I’ve been curious to see if it works. Stay Tuned!

Curiosity Corner! Growing a pineapple from scraps — Growing a pineapple from scraps– can it be done?

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