Take advantage of foods you can regrow because home-grown food is lovely. The taste is so much better than anything you could buy. Plus it won't be as expensive as it is to buys seeds. Even the budget gardener can grow food that won't cost them a cent. All they need to do is save their vegetable scraps! By doing this, you can grow organic produce while cutting down on your food waste. So for a no-waste garden, try these foods you can regrow like magic …
1 Ginger
Do you have a piece of ginger lying around in the fridge? Try turning it into a brand new plant. It'll take about a year, so you could try having several plants on the go. All you need to do is soak the ginger in water overnight, then plant in a pot of damp soil. Keep watering the soil until you see the shoots appear. When the plant is ready, pull it out, use the ginger, then repeat the process for more ginger next year!
Frequently asked questions
2 Onion
If you throw out your onion ends, you're wasting an opportunity! Turn them into more onions instead. Plant them in moist soil and make sure it doesn't dry out. You should get several shoots. Separate the shoots, making sure each has some roots, and replant. To help the onions grow faster, cut down the shoots so that all the energy will go into the onions.
3 Mushrooms
Do you toss mushroom stalks in the compost, or worse still in the garbage? Why throw them away when you can get more mushrooms! All you need to do is plant them in a mixture of soil and compost, with the top of the stalk sticking out. The bonus is that not only do you get new mushrooms from something you'd discard, but if the stalks grow they'll do so very quickly.
4 Pineapple
Pineapple, on the other hand, will take years to grow, but if you've got the patience give it a try! Take all the fruit and bottom layers out of the pineapple top until root buds appear. Soak the end in water until roots grow, then plant. However, you will have to wait a couple of years to get any fruit, and not live in a cold climate!
5 Lemongrass
Instead of buying lemongrass every time you want some, use the ends to grow your own! Put the root ends in some water, without covering them. Wait a few days, changing the water daily. Once it has roots an inch long, plant in soil. When the stalks grow to 12 inches, chop them and use, leaving the bulb to regrow.
6 Celery
What can you do with the ends of a stick of celery? Throw it away? Don't waste your celery ends - use them to grow more celery! As with some of the other vegetable scraps, you start by leaving the roots in water until it starts to grow leaves. Change the water every few days, as well as spraying with water. Once leaves appear, plant in soil, covering the ends of the sticks and leaving the leaves uncovered.
7 Garlic
You won't need to buy garlic if you grow your own! Just select a nice plump clove (remember that's just one segment - not the entire bulb!). Plant straight into a pot, keep it on a sunny windowsill, and water often. You'll know it's ready when the bottom leaves turn yellow.
It's amazing just how much you can grow from the leftover bits of vegetables that you normally throw away, so give it a go!
