Propagating vegetables from kitchen scraps

Just about everyone has sprouted a potato, even if it was by accidentally leaving it in the dark of the pantry for too long. More often than not I’ve sliced the sprout off the potato and thrown it away to avoid a further plague of potatoes growing in my garden and compost.
 
As it turns out, there are loads of other roots and vegetables that can be grown from left over scraps. Some of these include:
 
-Sweet potato
-Turmeric, ginger
-Celery
-Carrot, beets, turnips
-Onions
-Fennel
-Bok choy, lettuce, cabbage
-Avocado
-Various herbs

For example, here is my turmeric plant when it was still a baby sprout (beginning of 2020) vs now.
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​Some of these vegetables such as Celery, lettuce and cabbage will reward you quickly as the edible part of the plant begins to grow back. Others such as carrots and fennel must grow a plant that flowers and seeds in order to obtain vegetables from the propagated plant.
 
If you’re an indoor plant person, both carrot and sweet potato plants make excellent additions to indoor plant collections, regardless of whether you eventually manage to obtain vegetables from them or not. Here is a sneak peek at my baby sweet potato vine who likes to live on my bedroom windowsill.

​Propagating Root vegetables:
The same method of propagation can be used with most root vegetables. Root vegetables include Potatoes, turmeric, ginger, carrot, turnip and beetroot. You can purchase vegetables with the sole purpose of leaving them in a cool, dark place to sprout, or you can try your luck at finding an already sprouted root when you do your shopping. You can plant the root vegetable without the sprout; however, it may take a little longer to grow and isn’t guaranteed to.
Carrots, beets and turnips are a little different in that you just need the top of the vegetable where the plant is/ was to propagate it. Once you have either a root with a little sprout or a root top, place it in a shallow bowl of water, covering around half of the bottom of the root with the sprout/ top facing up. You may need to slice the vegetable so that is sits flat on the bottom of the bowl. If you leave the bowl on a windowsill, in time it will sprout and begin to grow a small plant. Once the plant is around 10-15cm high, it can be plotted in some soil to live out it’s happy little life!

Regrowing celery, fennel, onion, garlic, lettuce, herbs and bok choy:
 
Propagating all the herbs and veggies listed above is similar to the method for root vegetables, except it requires the bulb or bottom part of the vegetable. Take the bulb, stem or part of the plant where the roots once existed, and place in a bowl or jar of water. Once again, place in a warm windowsill position and watch the roots grow.
 
Herbs can be planted fairly soon after roots have established, or they can just be kept looking cute in a jar of water. Soon after roots have established, the edible part of the plant will begin to grow up from where it originally existed.
Onions and garlic can be planted in the garden soon after roots have grown, where as other vegetables such as celery, fennel, bok choy and lettuce should be left to establish a bit before planting in the garden.
 
 
Propagating Avocados:
You’ve probably seen avocado propagation floating around socials recently. With the rising popularity of both avocados and indoor plants, having a little avocado plant on your counter or coffee table is the new trend.  
When you’ve finished using an avocado, take the pip and give it a wash. Make sure that the pip is not pierced or broken anywhere.
Prepare a jar of water to place the pip in.
Locate the bottom and top of the avocado. This can be a little tricky, but the top usually has a bit of a point and the bottom is usually a little flatter. This is important to do as the top is where the plant will sprout from, and the bottom where the roots will appear.
Using 3 or 4 toothpicks, pierce the middle of the pip evenly around the circumference. If you angle the toothpicks downwards slightly, it will help balance the pip better.
Then, place the bottom half of the avocado in the jar/ bowl of water with the toothpicks sitting on the rim of the jar to keep the top half out of the water.
Keep your avocado seed in a bright, warm spot. It could take up to 8 weeks, but the top of the pip will begin to dry and eventually crack, allowing the sprout to emerge. A taproot will also eventually form from a crack in the bottom of the pip too. Once the new plant is around 15cm tall, pot it in some rich soil to give the plant some much needed nutrients. At this point, you can cut the plant back a little to encourage even more growth (avoid cutting no more than 10cm)
 
 Regrowing veggies is such a fun and exciting activity. I can help with minimising food wastage as well as the costs of purchasing seedlings and eventually veggies during the weekly shop. Even though it does require a bit of patience, you will soon be rewarded.
 
Happy growing :)