Kitchen Scrap Gardening

Some of my best backyard gardening results have come from what I call Kitchen Scrap Gardening.

Where most people see spoiled or useless foods, I see opportunity
for GROWTH!

Carrot tops! Cut them and throw them in the compost bin right?
NO! Even if there isn't any sign of growth on the carrot tops you can skewer them and keep them partially submerged in water in a sunny window and they'll sprout! These tops are ready for planting. They have healthy roots well over two inches long and plenty of greenery.
Sometimes with Carrots, you'll find them shoved way to the back of the fridge where they've been long forgotten. When you pull them out they may have white or yellow sprouts.
Set those puppies in a glass of water, the whole carrot if you wish! And place in a sunny window... the sprouts will turn green within a day or two. What a great way to teach the kiddo's about photosynthesis!



Celery is another super easy scrap to grow. When you cut the bottom nub off your bunch, don't toss it! Place it in a little water (make sure to change the water regularly or it will rot) Within a few days you'll have new growth from the center of the nub and eventually roots! Once you see the roots it's ready for dirt! Some people like to just plant directly into soil without windowsill rooting everything. But I prefer to get a good healthy set of roots before hand.

 

Potatoes! Letting potatoes sprout on their own is called "chitting". There's no difficult science here, you can have seed potatoes with very little effort. When the eyes start to grow just let them have their way! Once you have some good sprouts on them you can cut them down so each potato piece has it's own healthy sprout. Soak them in water over night and then plant away! Any variety of potato, including sweet potato will work, however It's my understanding that it's easier when you use organics. I've never tried conventional potatoes myself though.

Some more easily grown kitchen scraps are:

• Garlic
• rosemary
• pineapple tops (one of my favorite!)
• avocado seeds)
• onions of all sorts

So next time you discover something sprouted in your fridge, don't be so quick to throw it out! We have viable food all around us and nature often times does the hard part for us! Happy planting and Happy Gardening!