Growing tasty, healthy produce from kitchen scraps is a fun activity everyone can have a go at. It can save money, cut down on food waste, and teach valuable lessons about nature and sustainability.
- Kitchen scraps (Carrot, parsnip, lettuce, beetroot, onion, celery, garlic, tomato, avocado pip)
- Kitchen tray or large saucer
- Glass or jam jar
- Jug of water
- Knife
- Chopping board
Step 1
Take your chosen vegetable and carefully cut off the top with a knife, leaving about 1-2cm of the vegetable attached. Pictured below you can see a selection of parsnips and carrots which have already sprouted and a slice of red onion. For the onion make sure you cut off the end with the tiny roots, so you have a scrap about 2cm tall.
Step 2
Pour enough water to cover the base of a large saucer or tray then arrange the tops of the vegetables in the water, cut side down and leaf end up. For the onion make sure the root end is placed in the water.
Step 3
Top up the water or replace with fresh as required especially if dye comes out of the cut pieces of vegetables. The water may turn purple from the colour of the onion.
Step 4
Place in a bright position like a windowsill, where you can watch the fresh green shoots appear. These top scraps regrow tasty leaves for fresh salads or sautés.
Home-grown garlic takes up little space and requires hardly any effort to get a good crop.
Step 1
Take the garlic bulb and split it into individual cloves. Peel off the outer papery coating and then place each clove into a small glass or jam jar. This will allow you to watch the roots & shoots appear.
Step 2
Make sure each clove is placed with the pointy end up and then add just enough water to cover the base of each clove. Top up with a little water as required.
Step 3
Place in a bright place and within a few days you should notice the cloves sprouting.
Once roots have developed, plant in a warm, sunny spot in fertile soil. You can harvest garlic in the summer when the leaves turn yellow.
Pictured below is our garlic after just one week!
Avocados are also great to grow in a glass.
Step 1
Remove the large stone or pit from a ripe Avocado and clean it off under the tap.
Step 2
Carefully stick three or four toothpicks into it, evenly spaced about one-third of the way down from the pointy end.
Step 3
Sit the pit on a glass or watertight container, so that the toothpicks support it on the rim. Add enough water to cover the pit's bottom half, and refresh water regularly.
Step 4
Once the pit has roots and a sprout, transplant to a container with soil. Keep the top half of the pit above the soil line, while the bottom half goes below.
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