12 Vegetables You Can Regrow From Scraps

On Posted on by Rachel Graf to Garden, Lifestyle

Did you know you can regrow many of the vegetables and herbs you buy at the store to create a whole new plant? By saving a few of the cuttings or scraps you might otherwise throw away, you can grow even more food to enjoy later. The process is simple, sustainable, and fun for kids and adults alike. So before you toss those rooty ends of green onions or cut the baby sprouts off your potatoes, check out these 12 vegetables you can easily regrow at home.

vegetables you can regrow
Photo credit: iStock/AGEphotography

Lettuce

  1. Cut the bottom part off your store-bought heads of lettuce, leaving about 2 inches.
  2. Dig a small hole in a pot or garden bed and plant the flat end of the lettuce down, covering the bottom completely and leaving the rest above the soil.
  3. After about two weeks, the lettuce will start to regrow leaves. Wait until the leaves are big enough to harvest and enjoy! As long as you leave the crown of the lettuce in the soil, it will continue regrowing leaves.

See more: 9 Creative Spring Gardening Projects for Kids

vegetables you can regrow

Celery

  1. Cut the bottom inch off your celery stalks.
  2. Place the 1-inch stalks in a bowl with the cut side facing up. Add just enough water to cover the bottom of the stalks and place the bowl in windowsill or sunny spot.
  3. After a few days, leaves and roots will begin to form. Then you can plant the celery in a pot or directly in your garden, covering everything but the leaves with soil.
  4. Wait for the celery stalks to regrow, then harvest as needed.

See more: 10 Ways to Reduce Waste in the Kitchen

Boursin Smashed Red-Skinned Potatoes RecipePotatoes

  1. Wait until your potatoes start to grow “eyes” or small white buds where the potato starts sprouting.
  2. You can either plant the potatoes whole or cut the potato into 1-inch pieces that include one or two eyes each. If you cut the potatoes, let the pieces sit out to dry for one or two days before planting.
  3. Plant each piece (or whole potato) with the eyes facing up, covering the potatoes completely with soil.
  4. The potato plants will begin producing leaves above the ground and be ready to harvest in 70 to 120 days.

See more: How to Grow Your Own Sweet Potatoes

vegetables you can regrow
Photo credit: iStock/Mehriban Aliyeva

Green Onions

  1. Cut each green onion at the bottom, leaving at least half an inch of onion with the bulb and the roots.
  2. Plant the onion in the ground or in a planter by covering the bulb and roots completely in soil and leaving the rest of the onion cutting sticking out above the soil. Water the onions regularly.
  3. The onions will start to develop shoots, which you can harvest and add to your dishes as desired.

See more: How to Grow Sprouts in a Jar

Garlic

  1. Break a whole garlic bulb into cloves.
  2. Plant the biggest cloves (with the flat-end facing down) in your garden about 2 inches deep, leaving about 6 inches between each clove and covering completely with loose soil.
  3. Wait eight or nine months for each clove to produce big garlic bulbs. (Typically plant in the fall for harvest in early summer.)

See more: How to Grow and Harvest Garlic

vegetables you can regrow

Ginger

  1. Get a large piece of ginger, at least 2 inches long and 2 inches wide. Break the ginger apart into two or three pieces.
  2. Plant each piece into a pot about 1-inch deep and water after planting.
  3. After about a month, shoots will begin to grow above the soil as the plant starts producing more ginger.

See more: How to Grow an Avocado Tree From a Pit

 

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Herbs

Most herbs can be regrown from cuttings. Follow the steps below to regrow your own basil, oregano, mint, thyme, rosemary and sage.

  1. Remove all the lower leaves from a cutting, leaving about 3 to 5 inches of bare stem. Place the stem of the cutting in water, leaving the leaves above the surface (regular plastic water bottles work great for this). For rosemary, thyme and sage, cut the bottom of the stem at a 45-degree angle before placing in water.
  2. Place the bottle next to a window. The herb cutting will begin to develop roots after two to four weeks depending on the type of herb.
  3. Transfer the new plant with roots into a pot or plant directly in your garden. Harvest as needed.

See more: Herbs for Health: The Benefits Growing in Your Garden

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