April 03, 2020

Growing Veggies From Scraps

Did you know you can grow vegetables in your kitchen from vegetable scraps? It turns out that there are lots of ways to do this, but most need to be transplanted into soil to actually bear fruit. However, there are a couple that can be done easily and quickly with just a little water and sunlight. I'm not saying this will cut back on your Instacart or Amazon orders, but it's a fun experiment for the kids and for you!

Other items you can start in the kitchen, but will take longer to grow:

Avocado - I remember my mom growing an avocado in our kitchen. It had toothpicks in the sides of the seed to keep it floating above a jar of water in the bottom. We would tend to it every couple of days and eventually it would sprout roots. I don't remember it ever producing an avocado though. Hmm. Turns out, that's because once it grows roots you will need to plant it into the ground with the top showing and THEN it can take 10-15 years for the plant to be big enough to bear fruit in the right climate. It's a fun educational project and for me at least, it's nostalgic to have an avocado growing in the kitchen. It you have a child under the age of 3, you might give it a try and see if it will product an avocado before they go to college, assuming you don't have to move during that time. I might stick to the grocery store variety for this one. 

Celery - Celery is done in exactly the same way that lettuce is grown, from the stalk. However, it requires more sunlight and after it grows roots (1-2 weeks) it really needs to be planted into soil. It's still a fun project for the kids, but doesn't produce anything viable unless you have a pot or some ground outside to use.

Garlic - Break off a single clove from your garlic (or more if you want more plants) and put it into a shallow cup of water, root (flat) end down. You can leave the shell on. Within a week they will have large sprouts growing out of the top. You can then transfer the sprouts into soil and in 6-9 months, depending on the time of year, you will have garlic bulbs.

Potatoes - You can grow potatoes from the eyes of potato peels. You just have to plant them into soil and keep up with them, but it will probably take longer to grow them this way than it would if you started from seeds. So this one that will absolutely work, but is a long term project.

There are many tutorials online that will show you how to grow everything. In our research we found one YouTuber that we really liked called "Home Grown Veg." We might just be enamored with his accent and the mystery of never seeing his face, but if you are interested, it's worth a gander!

Happy Cooking (and Growing)!

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March 24, 2020

Staying in? So are we. Day 12 of Shelter In Place

I do not recommend this, but I have been starting my days with the latest news updates. It’s getting crazy out there! And we’re feeling isolated in here. 

Sunday night our area, Dallas, was ordered to Shelter in place. My 90 year old father-in-law lives with us (myself, hubby and 2 boys) so we have been extra cautious and started sheltering in place on March 12. This is our Day 12 today and one thing I hadn’t realized is how much... Read More