Kitchen Scrap Gardening

All you need for a little garden is… Scraps! The seeds, bulbs and roots of fruits and veg that you’ve already used are all you need to replant for cheap. (Oranges, lemons, limes, sweet potatoes, avocados, carrots, beets, onions, and ginger work well!)

You’ll also need containers (I like to use used plastic fruit containers, milk jugs, sour cream containers). Potting soil is also good, or just grab some soil from outside! & of course, water.

Here’s how you’ll wanna do it for…

Big Seeds

For big seeds, like an avocado, you’ll want to let it dry out for about two days. Then, plant the seed in a pot with pretty moist soil – but make sure to leave the tops of seed/pit exposed to the air, out of the soil. Or, you can use toothpicks to boist the pit up over some water in glass – with the water just high enough to touch the bottom of the pit. Just be sure to change the water once a week. The roots will sprout in about 1-2 months!

Little Seeds

The easiest little seeds to grow are from citrus like oranges, lemons, grapefruit, and limes. Just plant three to four of seed one inch deep in the pot of moistened soil. In 2-4 weeks the seeds will sprout! After six weeks (be sure to keep the soil moist!) you can transfer into a bigger pot as the seedlings turn to trees. It’ll be a few years before citrus actually bears fruit BUT the leaves of the plants are fragrant.

Roots

Root crops like beets, parsnips and carrots can be “beheaded” to sprout new top growth. Just slice off the head end along with one to two inches of the root and place it in a saucer filled with pebbles for support and water. New greens will appear on top in about a week. In a week or so new greens should appear from the top. Once you’ve got that, put the root into a soil!

Greens

Garlic and onions are good example of this. Just put the cloves or blubs in soil, just enough to cover the whole clove/bulb. That’s pretty much it, just keep the soil moist!