Every day we throw oodles of leftovers away which believe it not...could be used to regrow scrummy fruits, vegetables and herbs completely free of charge such as celery, garlic, lettuce, basil and pineapple.
Granted, this may not be the way to solve the world's hunger problems, but it's a fun, educational, it saves you money and with grocery prices rocketing, now is the best time to get thrifty in the kitchen, garden, allotment, Greenhouse, Polytunnel...I think you get the gist :)
If you love scrumptious, easy-to-grow, versatile vegetables that only need minimal space and effort, then spring onions are an excellent choice! Even the tiniest plot will accommodate them. When you're preparing spring onions ready for cooking, leave approximately 1 inch of the roots behind, and put them on one side.
Put these discarded spring onion bottoms in shot glasses or vase with a little bit of water on a windowsill or even in a Polytunnel or Greenhouse (changing the water every day) leaving the stem out of the water and watch them begin to regrow in just a few days.
Once you have a little bit of growth, dig a small hole as deep as the roots and stem and plant the sprouted onion in your garden, raised bed or Polytunnel, backfill with soil and water well.
After about 4 weeks, these newly regrown spring onions will be ready to harvest again...The ultimate in vegetable reuse!
The first re-grow will be slightly milder in taste. The second regrow will be very mild and so on.
I think vegetables are amazing!
Growing vegetables from seeds is cool but growing them from kitchen scraps is totally awesome...
That little celery stump you'd normally throw away is very valuable. "Apparently" it can be tricky to grow celery, quite the gardener's challenge, but it is so easy to re-grow celery and such fun to watch the new life grow before your eyes...
Simply chop the stalks leaving about 2 inches from the base of the celery you bought from the supermarket (just remember, the quality of the "parent" vegetable scrap will help to determine the quality of the re-growth) and use as you normally would.. I like a little spot of stilton cheese with mine...
Instead of tossing the base in the bin, rinse it off and place it in a small saucer or shallow bowl of water (just enough to submerge the bottom of the celery ) in a sunny location - base side down and cut stalks facing upright.
You'll be amazed at how little attention your little celery plant needs. Simply change the water every couple of days and watch it as regrowth begins...
New celery will grow from the base of a used stalk after just 1 week, the center leaves should change color and starting to poke up a little bit but still no roots at this point. After a couple of weeks growing time the celery should continue to thrive. The leaves should have grown out generously and bushy and the celery stalks underneath should have really taken shape. Plant the celery in your garden covering everything but the leaves and that's it... A few of our furry friends love celery so you'll need to protect it with some sort of wire frame or grow them undercover in a Polytunnel or Greenhouse.
For your efforts, you'll get free, edible stalks of celery in a few months and a fun experiment for the kids to keep an eye in the summer holidays...
So don't toss those celery scraps away. Put them to work and grow a kitchen garden from leftover bits and pieces.
