This year is the first year I have the space and clarity of mind to get to gardening. I've been wanting to get to it for years, but spring isn't always the quietest time of year for me, and when the distractions build up, the passion projects get pushed to the back of the line.
This year, I started prepping my garden nice and early. As I looked for various tidbits to make my garden the best it could be, I noticed how many people enjoyed growing new veggies from the scraps of ones that were previously used. I'd known you could do that with green onion, for example, but wasn't aware how many other vegetables can be grown from scraps.
With a week of cooking ahead of me, I decided to see how many of my ingredients could be repurposed into whole new plants. Some definitely worked better than others, producing plants that have made it to my backyard.
I decided to start small with things I already had in the house. After scouring Google and my fridge, I learned that all I needed was water to get started on green onions and garlic. The green onion needs to be at least 2 inches long to grow, while the garlic needs to be partially submerged in water. I used a bud vase and a shot glass to get started.
As I looked into what more I could grow from scraps, I found my green onion and garlic took off pretty quickly. In 48 hours, both showed signs of growth. All I had to do was keep the water levels about the same, adding a bit every day or so.
Next, I decided to take on celery. I filled a small bowl partially with water. Then, I stuck the celery with toothpicks so it would be slightly suspended in the bowl.
The green onion and garlic quickly became my favorite plants to check on every day, because they evolved so quickly. Every single day, I could some bit of growth, which felt great.
The celery was joined by bok choy the day after I set it up. The setup process is exactly the same, so it was easy to stick them both in a spot on my kitchen counter and let them soak up some sun. In about three days, both started showing signs of growth.
Once the green onion and garlic started growing, they really started growing. I was surprised at how much the green onion shot up every day. After the garlic roots reached a certain length, I noticed a split starting to happen to the clove, indicating some more growth.
A week made a huge difference when it came to all of these plants. In a week's time from the previous photos, the green onion and garlic were just about ready to be potted in dirt. I noticed that in the following days, growth slowed, which meant it was time to find them a new home.
After a week, the leafy greens were doing phenomenal as well. Both had started showing some substantial growth, and they looked about ready to go in the ground as well. All I needed was a weather day to cooperate with my plan.
I did some research to make sure they were ready for the outdoors. Although celery is a cool-weather plant, I live in a zone where I was clear to put it in the ground. The internet says that green growth and small roots are all you need, and I had both.
The bok choy roots were much more prominent. It was ready to be buried in about an inch of dirt. When all was said and done, my leafy greens looked like the most promising development in my whole garden thus far.
The green onions and garlic needed to move into a pot, and since I had to repot indoor plants also, it all got done at once. I was surprised to see how many roots the garlic had. The split in its side had grown even bigger.
The green onions got really big. I was pretty surprised to see how tall they grew until I saw a post from my neighborhood Facebook gardening group that showed a stalk of green onion taller than the gardener themselves. These babies can GROW.
A few hot and hazy days later, I noticed the green onions were having a hard time standing themselves up. The leafy greens were looking good, but in need of more moisture than nightly sprinklers were providing. Thankfully, a thunderstorm rolled in that afternoon and took care of that.
Trying to grow these plants was surprisingly fun and easy. I've definitely leaned on my houseplants as a way to decompress in recent months, and now I've got some veggies added to the mix. I can't wait until I get to harvest and eat the fruits of my labor.
While these scraps all thrived, there were a few failed attempts. I tried growing bell peppers and small chili peppers from seeds. The bell pepper seeds grew mold before I could even get them in the dirt (about 36 hours). The chili pepper seeds survived and have gone in the dirt. Will they work out? Stay tuned!
