When you haven’t used all your potatoes or garlic and they start growing roots, you can plant them to produce more. In modern times, the simple act of planting seeds and sprouting veg would probably be called an “infinite food hack”, when really, it’s something people have been doing since humans evolved.
Whether you’ve got a garden or balcony, it is possible to grow your own food. (Our Editor Sydney has strawberries, blackberries, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, and herbs on her balcony.) All it takes is a little bit of time and some watering during dry spells. So, if you’ve got a pepper that’s gone soft, a sweet potato with roots, or an onion with green growths, don’t chuck it.
Get the kids involved – it’s a great way to keep them entertained during the school holidays – and spend a day preparing and planting your rotting fruit and veg. It’ll not just give them an idea where their food comes from, it’ll give them, and you, a sense of pride when green shoots begin to grow, and even more when you get to harvest a small vegetable.
So where should you start?
Sprouting vegetables
In this section, we cover all of the vegetables that’ll start sprouting when they go out of date.
Potatoes and sweet potatoes
If you open your dry, dark cupboard (that’s where you should store your potatoes, remember) and see that your potato has some little growths, don’t worry. You can either slice the roots off and use as normal, or you can close your cupboard and leave it for a week or two until the growths begin to form properly.
At this point, get yourself some deep pots and some soil or a grow bag, or if you’ve got the space, prepare a patch of garden.
When you’ve got the time to plant, you can slice off the sections of potato with roots on and, root side down, plant them a fair space apart. If you’re pushed for time, you can just plant the potato whole. The same goes for sweet potatoes.
Onions and garlic
These two also begin to sprout, however, these sprout green stems. With garlic, you can separate the cloves, and let each grow an individual stem. With onion, the top will sprout thick, green stems.
When you plant onion or garlic, separate each stem as they will each form an individual plant.
Either plant them in your garden or in a deep pot, stems pointing upwards, a fair space apart (think of how big the vegetable is, and aim for a space one and a half that size). Don’t bury the green, this part needs access to sunlight to photosynthesise. Give them a good water and you’re good to go.
Celery, lemongrass, green onions, and leeks
With celery, lemongrass, green onions, and leeks, the base will begin to grow long, scraggly roots. If you’ve opened your fridge to find roots have grown, then follow these steps:
- Chop the base off about an inch up
- Fill a flat-bottom container with about an inch of water
- Add the bases
- Prepare a pot with light, airy soil (add a handful of gravel and mix in), the size of the pot is dependent on how many bases you want to plant
- Make little holes in the soil about 2-3cm apart and place in your bases
If you’re extra keen, you can cut the bases off as soon as you buy them. Place them on damp kitchen roll and store them somewhere cool and dark. Once the roots begin to appear, plant in dirt.
You can also regrow cabbages and lettuces from their bases; if you’ve got a garden or allotment, go for it. Those with balconies will be better off opting for the smaller vegetables.
Vegetable seeds
With any seeded vegetable, remove the seeds, place somewhere dry, then weeks later, plant. Some seeds will need soaking overnight in lukewarm water to wake them from hibernation.
You’ll need: kitchen roll or little containers and a pen. Keep each type of seed separate and clearly labelled, otherwise when you get round to planting, you won’t know what you’ve planted until the leaves grow.
Which fruits can you grow from scraps?
By scraps, we don’t mean peel or leftover chunks; we mean the bases (or the tops, depending on which way up you’re holding it).
Here’s how:
Pineapple
It can be quite simple: place the top in water and when roots start to grow, move it to well-drained soil.
Alternatively, you can dry your pineapple top out for four to five days, then plant directly in the soil (line the bottom of your pot with gravel or pebbles and make sure the pot has a few holes in the bottom so the water can drain)
You’ll need to keep your pineapple plant somewhere warm (preferably over 16C) and in full sun.
Then, wait three years, watering regularly. You might get fruit.
Avocado
Growing an avocado from its pit requires a bit of light engineering. With four toothpicks, run them through the pit at right angles to each other. (It’ll end up looking like a cross.)
Fill a glass with water and use the toothpicks to suspend the avocado pit over the top. Avocado pits need heat, moisture, and a high humidity to germinate, and the water underneath will provide two of those things. Being indoors will provide the other. Leave it suspended until roots and sprouts appear, then plant it in soil.
This really does work as my son successfully grew an avocado plant using this technique.
Citrus fruits
Before you plant your citrus pips or seeds, make sure you give them a good wash with clean water. Then, get yourself some peat-free compost, and in little nursery pots, plant your seeds around half an inch deep. Make sure to keep them moist and warm until they germinate. Be sure to plant more than one to give yourself the best chance of a successful germination.
Move to bigger pots or the ground when the shoot reaches at least two inches high.
