1
Green onions and leeks
Keep the bottom 2 inches with the roots. Stand them root-down in an inch of water. You will see new green in 3 days and can snip for weeks.
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Beginner
Grow From Scraps
Don't toss those green onion ends - stick 'em in water and watch the magic, baby.
What you need
- •Kitchen scraps with a root end or a base intact
- •A shallow jar, glass, or bowl
- •Clean water, changed every couple days
- •A windowsill with light
- •A small pot of soil for the ones that keep going
Step by step
2
Romaine, celery, and cabbage
Set the base in a half inch of water. Once tiny leaves appear in the center, move it into soil so it can actually bulk up.
3
Garlic and ginger
Plant a sprouted clove pointy side up, or a knob of ginger with a bud, an inch under soil. Keep it warm and lightly moist.
4
Herbs from cuttings
Take a 4 inch basil or mint stem, strip the bottom leaves, and set it in water. Roots in about a week, then pot it up.
5
Sweet potato slips
Suspend half a sweet potato in water with toothpicks. When shoots reach 6 inches, twist them off and root them for planting.
Grandma said
"Nothing in this kitchen is trash until it has been asked twice if it wants to grow."
Garden coach
Ask about this guide
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Watch out for
- Letting the water go cloudy and funky
- Submerging the whole scrap instead of just the base
- Leaving regrown lettuce in water forever - it needs soil to size up
- Keeping scraps in a dark corner