I love gardening. This year, since we moved, I do not have a big garden like I used to and I miss it. We have the space, but I'm not willing to dedicate a whole day to tilling up the land, but maybe sometime I will! We do have a little flowerbed in the back that I have planted peppers, onions, cabbage, and carrots in. Everything is coming up nicely! I have been intrigued by the fact that you can regrow your vegetables, and we recently were gifted the "Regrow Your Veggies" book, so I decided to give it a try with my new obsession - pineapples!
We go through pineapples like crazy around here. We can easy eat 2 fresh pineapples a week, either plain, in a smoothie, grilled, or my recent obsession: air fryer pineapple. You need to try that recipe!!
The book says that you can easily regrow your pineapple. It does take a few years to actually regrow another pineapple. (And for the record, I do realize that pineapple isn't a veggie, but a fruit, but well, it's still really cool!) We worked on this and just called it our daily science lesson.
Take the leaves off the very bottom and soak it in some water and in a few days, you will see roots growing. Then, just plant it in a pot with soil and you'll have a super cool houseplant that should grow a pineapple in a few years! As much as we spend on houseplants, the fact that this one is basically free should make every plant lover's spouse, like mine, super happy!
"Regrow Your Veggies" has information on how to regrow potatoes, sweet potatoes, ginger, herbs, and much more. It is well written and easy to read, for kids and adults. It makes a great family project!
You can regrow a variety of vegetables from kitchen scraps, which makes for a fun and sustainable way to have fresh produce. Here are some popular ones you can easily regrow:
- Green Onions (Scallions) - Place the white root end in a glass of water, and they’ll start to grow new shoots in a few days.
- Lettuce - Place the base of the lettuce in a shallow dish of water. It will sprout new leaves after a week or so.
- Celery - Similar to lettuce, place the base of a celery stalk in water. Roots will form, and new stalks will grow.
- Carrots - While you can’t regrow whole carrots, you can regrow the tops by placing the tops in water, and they’ll sprout feathery green leaves.
- Potatoes - Use leftover potato pieces with at least one "eye" (sprout). Plant them in soil, and they will grow new potatoes.
- Tomatoes - You can regrow tomatoes by saving seeds and planting them, or in some cases, growing a new plant from the stem cuttings.
- Ginger - Place a piece of ginger root with a bud in soil. It will start sprouting new shoots after a few weeks.
- Basil - Snip a healthy basil cutting, place it in water, and roots will develop. After that, you can transfer it to soil.
- Sweet Potatoes - Place a sweet potato in water to grow slips (shoots). Once the slips are ready, you can plant them.
- Cabbage - Like celery and lettuce, you can place the base of the cabbage in water and it will start regrowing new leaves.
These regrowth methods are a fun way to have a sustainable mini garden, and some of them can even be done indoors! Have you tried regrowing any veggies yourself?
I particularly like how it has information on care of the plants and how to take care of pests, like fruit flies, and issues like rot, mildew, etc. It even has recommended times to grow these plants and suggestions for light, climate, etc.
>>Don't miss how to start composting, too<<
Pick up this book on Amazon for your next project!!