Tips For Regrowing Some Kitchen Scraps!

More and more we are looking for ways to save money, especially in the kitchen! Whether it’s a recipe that goes a bit farther or trying different ingredients to fit into your budget, being frugal in the kitchen doesn’t mean boring, not-so-tasty meals!

One step you can take is to regrow some of your favorite ingredients! Yep, that’s right, kitchen scrap gardening! There are actually a lot of different options when it comes to items you can actually regrow. Let’s take a look at some that grow quickly and easily!

Green Onions

Green Onions are so very easy to grow and are our personal favorite. When cutting your green onions for a recipe leave about 1-2 inches of your green onion at the bottom. You should have just a little bit of green above the white-ish bottom of the green onion. Make sure you leave the roots intact.

The simplest method to regrowing your green onions is to place the bottoms of the green onions into a small container of water. We like to use a small mason jar that allows the green onions to stand up next to each other. You can put the container on your windowsill and watch your green onions regrow! Green onions can be re-grown about 4-5 times which is amazing!

There are products you can buy to help you with regrowing your green onions, although the mason jar method works great! You can also plant the bottoms of your green onions into the soil, leaving just the top of the cutting sticking out of the soil. Over the years we have found the water method to grow the green onions faster than the soil method, but both do produce green onion re-growth!

Garlic Scapes

Another great kitchen scrape you can grow very easily is garlic scapes. Garlic scapes are so fun to harvest in early Summer, and it’s even better when you can enjoy the garlic scape flavor in the middle of the winter! This is a great option if you have some extra garlic you need to use up or that is slightly past its prime, but not rotten. Garlic scapes have a nice, mild garlic flavor, and make the perfect addition when cooking.

For growing garlic scapes, you have a few options. First, you can simply put a bulb of garlic into some water, in a small container. You want the water to just touch the bottom of your garlic bulb, and change your water often throughout the growing process. With this method, you will have garlic scapes within about a week!

You can also plant actual cloves of garlic into a pot of soil, and grow your garlic scapes. This method takes a little longer to grow than the water method, but is excellent if you just have a few cloves of garlic to use! Plant the clove into the soil, the point of the clove facing up. Within a few days, you will start to see growth!

You can harvest the garlic scapes when they are several inches tall (we like around 8-9 inches). Snip off small pieces from the top of the garlic scape and enjoy!

Celery

Celery is another great kitchen scrap to regrow! Simply plant the bottom of your celery into the soil, and within a few days, you will start to see small celery growing from the center of your celery bottom. You can also set the bottom of your celery into the water, just enough to cover 1/3 of the cut celery bottom, changing your water often. You can harvest your celery when it’s about 3-4 inches tall.

Romaine Lettuce

Romaine lettuce will grow very similar to celery. You have the option again to regrow both in water, or in the soil. If you would like your romaine lettuce to last longer, when the regrowth is about 5-6 inches tall, carefully harvest leaves from the outer of the romaine lettuce, working your way towards the center. Some have been able to regrow romaine lettuce 3-4 times, even more!

Basil and Mint

There are many herbs you can regrow from a simple starting! If you have some basil or mint, take a cutting making sure there is a leaf node or bump on the cutting. Place the cutting into a cup of water. Within a few days, you will start to see root growth. After your cutting has a good healthy root system, plant in soil, and watch your cutting turn into a beautiful plant! Check out our propagation pal to help you with growing your cuttings!