Start new vegetables from scraps
Don’t throw out those vegetable scraps quite yet — learn how to sprout new vegetables from old ones. Some produce can be sprouted from the parts you would normally throw away, just in a glass of water!
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How to grow vegetables from scraps or stem cuttings
- Cut the useable leaves off for your recipe, leaving 2 in. above the stump/root end. Place the stem or root end into a glass and add 1 to 2 in. of water. Above you can see how this is done for green onions and romaine lettuce.
- Keep the glass of water with stem cuttings in a sunny spot on the kitchen counter.
- Harvest new leaves when they are the size you like.
- Check the water level every day and refresh if it becomes cloudy. Plants may peter out after a few cuttings.
Growing tips
- You might notice the flavor of the vegetables becoming more bland at each cutting — that’s because the water doesn’t provide the nutrients that soil does, and this will affect the taste.
- These resprouters can be started in a small pot of soil, as well. Start the cuttings in water, then once a few roots have formed, plant them in potting soil to grow in the window or set them outside in the garden.
Vegetables you can grow easily from scraps:
- Bok choi
- Cabbage
- Celery
- Fennel
- Garlic chives
- Green onions
- Leeks
- Lemon grass
- Romaine lettuce
