I really enjoy gardening outdoors but as autumn approaches and with winter festivals not too far off, it’s a great time to think about a little indoor growing project to expand your gardening skills that might also help to save a bit of money while reducing food waste too.
I try pretty hard not to waste food and to eat whatever I buy but sometimes after preparing a meal or re-stocking the fridge at the end of the week I wonder if I could do more with the scraps that inevitably find their way into my recycling bin.
I’ve started a little experiment to see what’s possible and practical on a sunny (ish) windowsill at this time of year.
Here are a few of my suggestions for some tasty, nutritious and cost free options - you might like to pick a few of your favourite veggies and have a go too. Growing from kitchen scraps is a great project to get children involved with and many of the ideas don’t even need soil.
Tops, stems, stalks, sprouts, seeds and stones are great places to begin. Just make sure that the original veggie is healthy and shows no signs of mould or disease and where water is used do make sure to change this every day or two to provide a healthy growing environment – just don’t let them dry out!.
1. Carrots, Turnips, Radishes, Parsnips and Beetroot
Although you can’t re-grow a full vegetable from these, in no time at all you can get some delicious greens to add to a salad, sandwich or stir fry or to have as an accompaniment to dinner if you let them grow just a little bit more.
Gather up the tops of these root veggies, a 2-3cm piece should work well depending on the size of the vegetable, and instead of throwing them away as usual, place them cut side down in a shallow bowl of water so that they are about one third submerged. They work best if they still have a tiny bit of the green top shoots intact.
Place them on a bright windowsill and in about a week they will sprout leaves at the top and eventually roots from the bottom. Cut the leaves to eat when they reach the size that you prefer. I enjoy the sweeter baby leaves in a salad and larger ones steamed with a tiny bit of butter.
Alternatively, once they have established roots, you can plant them with the top sitting just above the soil in a recycled pot for a longer lasting plant.
2. Spring Onions, Leeks and Lemon Grass
These are some of the easiest to re-grow as when you buy them they usually still have the roots attached at the white end. The greens they produce are great to add a mild, savoury flavour to pancakes, omelettes and soups or to liven up rice and noodle dishes.
Save the white ends of your veggies, about 3-5cm should be sufficient depending on size and stand them in a small re-cycled jar or glass of water with about a third of the stalk above the waterline. Place them on a bright windowsill and quite quickly you should have new green growth to harvest, just snip off what you need and leave them to continue growing.
Once the roots have also started growing a bit longer, you could plant these in soil too, the added nutrients will increase the length of your harvest period.
3. Lettuce, Celery, Fennel and Pak Choi
This works best for those veggies with a definite heart such as Romaine or Little Gem lettuce. If you save 4-5cm of the base after you’ve enjoyed eating the stalks and leaves, you can place them in water up to about two thirds submerged. These re-grow quite quickly so after five or six days, you’ll start to see new leaves growing from the centre.
If you have space, transfer the little plant to a pot of soil, which will help with more vigorous growth once you can see well-developed roots.
They may not reach a full head but if you keep cutting from the outer leaves, leaving the inner core to grow you will be able to harvest some tasty leaves for a salad.
4. Red or White Onion
There are three ways to re-grow onions, if you have used one to cook with just save the root base and follow the steps above. This will give you green growth from the top with a taste very similar to spring onions that you can snip off and it’s great for adding flavour to curries, chillies, soups and stews.
Alternatively, if you have an onion that’s sprouted green shoots while it’s been sitting in your store cupboard you can use it to grow a full new onion plant. The shoots will have formed new bulbs within the onion so cut it open carefully and remove these with the shoot attached. Place them into a shallow jar of water to allow them to root and then transfer them into soil, if desired.
Another option, if you’ve run out of space on your window sill is to take the base with it’s roots intact and let it dry out for a couple of days before planning it directly into soil. As it grows, you can either harvest the green shoots or wait a bit longer for the onion to form a full bulb underground.
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5. Ginger
Ginger is a strong spice and unless you cook with it regularly and use the whole piece, you may find that it’s started to sprout little green shoots next time you come to use it. Each of these shoots can be cut off with a 3-4cm piece of surrounding flesh attached. Place it in water up to but not covering the bottom of the shoot and roots should start to grow from the base. Once they do, find a wide, shallow re-cycled container such as a butter or ice-cream tub or perhaps a mushroom tray and carefully punch some drainage holes in the base. Fill it with soil and plant just under the surface with the shoot pointing upwards. In time it will start to produce new fleshy roots (rhizomes) that spread horizontally and near to the top of the container that you will recognise as the ginger we buy. You can then harvest what you need, as you cook. This will take some time and is best done at the start of the year but if you’re patient you could be enjoying zingy dressings, teas and smoothies in 4-6 months.
If you have ginger that has eyes (like potatoes) but no shoots yet, this can still be tried but be prepared for a slightly longer wait for your harvest.
6. Garlic
This is a favourite in many different cuisines and really easy to re-grow from a leftover clove, especially over the winter months. You can use those which have gone dry and crispy or, for a quicker result, a fresh one that you don’t need, the most important thing is that they still have roots attached.
If you have a full bulb, carefully split it leaving the skin on the individual cloves.
Put each one root down into a shallow bowl or jar, with only the bottom of the clove submerged in the water. Place in a bright spot and shoots should start to appear in a week or two. You can then harvest the green shots by snipping them off (like chives) or plant them into a deep container filled with soil. After about 8 months, you will have full garlic bulbs ready to harvest.
7. Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes
Re-growing from unused regular or sweet potatoes can take a while and needs a bit of space but is fun, if you’re up for a challenge. As potatoes grow quite large, you may decide that planting them into the ground is best but they also work very well in re-cycled buckets or compost bags.
Unlike regular potatoes, if you plant a sweet potato directly into the ground, it will grow a plant but it won’t produce any more sweet potatoes. Also unlike regular potatoes, the leaves are edible and nutritious. If you do want to grow sweet potatoes, they will first need to have shoots and roots. To encourage these, place the sweet potato in warm water and wait for them to develop from the eyes. Once they have, it can be planted but will need to be sheltered from frost as the plants are tender so you’ll either need space to keep the pot indoors or save this idea for the New Year and plant out in late spring and harvest before the first autumn frost.
Regular potatoes are a lot more hardy and to grow your own from scraps, it’s best to use pieces that have visible eyes or even better are sprouting already. These can be planted whole or cut into halves if large, keeping at least one or two eyes on each piece. If you decide on the latter, let the pieces sit at room temperature for a day or two until they are dry to help prevent rotting. Plant them about 30cm apart in 20cm of soil. After a few months the potatoes will be ready to harvest and enjoy baked, mashed, as wedges or for extra body in casseroles, curries and stews.
Just a note of caution, do not eat green potatoes however much love you’ve put into growing them, as they are poisonous.
8. Herbs
Herbs are great for adding a burst of flavour to your cooking and many such as mint, rosemary, sage, coriander and basil can be grown from cuttings taken from a healthy shop bought plant that might have seen better days. They do however need a bit of warmth and protection from sudden dips in temperature while they get started.
Choose a green stem about 8cm long and snip it off the parent plant just under a set of leaves (a node). Carefully remove the leaves from the lower half of the cutting to prevent rotting and place the cutting in a re-cycled jar or glass of water. You should start to see roots developing within a week or so and once established and you will also see new leaf growth from the top, it can then be carefully planted into a small container of soil. The great news is that once the new plant is growing well, you can repeat the process and never need to buy herbs again! At this time of year, some extra cuttings that you can grow on would then make a wonderful gift for any foodie friends at Christmas – it saves on the wrapping too, just add a pretty bow!
9. Pineapple
While this one may give you a beautiful houseplant, unless you are able to replicate the tropical conditions that pineapples love, you may not get to enjoy any fruit.
Remove the top of the pineapple, ideally by twisting it off rather than cutting to preserve the parts needed for re-growing. Peel back any leaves around the base so the bottom layers are exposed. And cut off just the tip of the base, being sure to remove any excess fruit.
Next, insert four toothpicks into the pineapple base above where you peeled back the leaves. Use the toothpicks to suspend the pineapple over a glass container which has just enough water to cover the base of the pineapple top. Leave this in a bright spot and wait for the roots to appear. Once fully formed and the green leaves show signs of growth, plant it into a pot and place in a warm, sunny position.
10. Plants with Seeds - Tomatoes, Chilies, Peppers, Cucumber, Pumpkin, Orange, Lemon, Apples, Pears, Melon, Kiwi, Strawberries.
Sometimes we eat the seeds from plants such as tomatoes, cucumbers and chillies and others we throw away but all can be used to grow new plants, if we save a few. As I wrote this, I realised that more than once, that I’d scraped pumpkin seeds into my recycling bin and also bought a bag of them from the supermarket in the same week.
I garden in the north of England and don’t have a greenhouse so have decided to start my saved seeds indoors in early spring, which is something you might want to consider but if you have a warm space indoors, you can get started straight away. Be patient if you give apples, pears or lemons a try as it could be a number of years before you see any fruit – you could still get a nice little tree.though.
For most of the above, separate out the seeds from any fleshy plant and try to gently remove as much of the pulp as possible to prevent rotting and increase the chance of germination. Leave them to dry out completely at room temperature on a clean tea towel or absorbent cloth for about 5 days and then plant in a pot or recycled container filled with soil. Once they sprout and are about 6cm high transplant them outdoors.
Some fruit bought at the supermarket may have been irradiated to preserve its shelf life which would prevent seeds from germinating so if you don’t want to chance to luck, you can test seeds by dropping them in water before drying and seeing if they float or sink. If they sink they are very likely to be healthy and you can discard any floating ones which would not germinate.
A helpful hint for strawberries is rather than trying to remove the seeds, which is very tricky, plant the strawberry tops or slices, with some seeds attached, directly into soil. Alternatively, you can pop a handful of whole mushy strawberries in a blender, just covered with water and blitz for about 10-20 seconds and leave it to settle. Remove the floating seeds that will not germinate and then sieve the remaining concoction, which will leave you with just the ones you want. Rinse and dry as above.
11. Stone Fruits - Cherry, Apricot, Peach, Plum, Mango and Damsons
I’ve tried over the years; none worked for me so unfortunately I have no useful advice to share and would suggest you tap into the wealth of people out there with more knowledge and experience than me. Please do let me know if you fair better!
So, growing from parts of plants that we usually think of as waste is a great way to change our view on both indoor gardening and food waste. Like the excitement of seeing a flower bloom from a seed or cutting that you’ve grown, having a dinner that includes a little harvest of tasty (and free!) windowsill wonders that you’ve transformed from what would otherwise have been compost also brings a certain joy and sense of achievement.
Do have a go, even if you’ve not grown your own food before, it takes very little effort and might even save you a dash to the shops for some last minutes ingredients. Most importantly of all, enjoy!
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