Regrowing Vegetables Is The Ultimate In Recycling
Note: This is a great project to involve your children!
Reduce, reuse, recycle. This is the mantra of waste reduction, which we support whole-heartedly. But what if you could regrow? Well, you can, and it is easy.
Many vegetables will regrow themselves from parts that would normally be discarded during meal preparation. Among them are scallions, beets, lettuce, celery, garlic and leaks. Instead of discarding, it is possible to farm these plants right on your countertop or windowsill.
In this blog post, we are going to focus in on regrowing scallions and beets.
Step By Step Instructions For Regrowing Scallions
Materials:
- Scallion Bulbs (buy Scallion bulbs)
- Potting Soil (buy potting soil)
- Flower Pot (buy flower pots)
Step 1: Fill your flower pot with good, dry potting soil.
Step 2: Create a hole in the potting soil with either your finger, a pencil or some similar object. The hole should be about 2” deep.
Step 3: Cut the scallions where the white bulb meets the green leaves. Make this a diagonal cut.
Step 4: Place the bulb into the hole, being careful not to damage the roots on the bottom. The top of the bulb should stick slightly above the soil level.
Step 5: Gently fill any voids around the hole with potting soil.
Step 6: Continue the above steps until all of your scallion bulbs are planted.
Step 7: Water the bulbs in and fill in any settled areas with additional potting soil. Scalli ons like full sun. Place the flower pot on a sunny window sill or other sunny location. Keep the soil moist with regular waterings. The new leaves will begin growing very quickly and you will have usable scallion greens in about a week’s time.
To harvest the scallion greens, simply snip of the greens about an inch above the soil level. New greens will regrow. It is possible to harvest about three times before the bulb exhausts itself and needs to be replaced.
Step By Step Instructions For Regrowing Beets
The goal in regrowing beets is to not necessarily harvest new beets, but to regrow them for their greens. Beet greens are fantastic in salads or as a steamed vegetable. Accomplishing this is very easy.
Beets greens can be regrown in either a bowl of water, in a flower pot, or in the garden.
Step 1: Cut off the top of the beet approximately 1⁄4” below the top crown.
Step 2: If growing in water, place the cut side of the beet down into the water. If growing in a garden or flower pot, dig a small hole about three times the size of the beet. Place the cut side of the beet in the bottom of the hole and backfill it with the soil.
That’s it!
In a week or so you will see beet leaves emerge and grow. Simply cut them off with scissors as needed. The beet leaves will continue to grow all season.
