How to regrow food from scraps
Regrowing your food from scraps is a great way to save money and reduce the amount of food waste produced. Growing tasty and healthy produce in your own home can be extremely rewarding, and not as daunting as you may think. Following our guide below, it’s simple to propagate and nurture your crops in the comfort of your own home, especially as many vegetables can be started or even reach full growth without the use of soil.
With just a few simple steps, some clean containers and fresh water, you could start to see progress in just a few days and have your first home-grown vegetable ready to harvest in a few weeks. So, whether you’re looking for a fun new project, an affordable entry into gardening, control over what goes into your food, or a way to live more sustainably, growing food from scraps provides so many benefits and is the perfect way to save money. Keep reading to find out how to get started.
What foods can you grow from scraps?
There are plenty of foods that you can grow from your kitchen scraps, many of which are common ingredients in lots of different dishes. The good news is that you don’t have to live in a particular climate to successfully grow these crops, and you can start to generate your own harvest from home. The list below is not inclusive of all crops you can regrow from scraps, but the most common and accessible ones for beginners.
How to regrow onions, garlic, leeks and shallots
Vegetables such as green onions, leeks, garlic and other members of the allium family are fairly simple to propagate and regrow from scraps. If you don’t have any arable soil to hand, start with leeks and spring onions as these can be grown using just water.
Leeks and spring onions: Retain the end with all of the small roots, and place them upright in a shallow dish of water, but be careful not to entirely submerge them. Refresh the water every couple of days and you should start to see growth within 2-5 days. These sprouted sections can be harvested when matured and the process can be repeated, or you can cut off what you need without uprooting the plant.
Onions, shallots, & garlic bulbs: Place the root end in healthy soil which is kept moist at all times. Be careful not to place the ends too deep in the soil, as they should only be lightly covered. In the case of garlic, place a whole clove into the soil with the pointy end facing upwards. Whilst these vegetables are extremely easy to cultivate and are relatively low maintenance, they will take a longer time to grow. Onions can be harvested after 5 months, whereas garlic will be ready in early summer when the lower leaves have turned yellow.
How to regrow lettuce, pak choi and leafy greens
Leafy vegetables can be grown in a shallow dish of water. Simply place the root end into the dish, keeping the tops above the water line. Spray them with fresh water a couple of times a week and harvest the leaves as you need them. Alternatively, if you want to grow a full head of lettuce you can transplant your plants into the soil after about one week when new roots have formed. Then, after about 5 months you should be able to harvest the new produce when it’s fully grown.
Alternatively, you can grow these plants using single leaves if you place them in a clean and shallow dish of water, spraying regularly with fresh water. You will need to place them on a sunny windowsill and transplant them to healthy soil after one week.
How to regrow carrots, turnips, and root crops
To regrow your root crops from scraps, you’ll need to retain the top end where the leaves and stems grow from. The first stage of regrowth is to place these ends into a container of water with the root end unsubmerged and facing upright. You should start to see new growth after a couple of days. You can choose to harvest these greens or wait for them to mature a little more before planting them in the soil to grow new root crops.
How to regrow ginger
It’s hard to predict the right amount of fresh ginger you’ll need for a recipe, and you’re likely to end up with leftover chunks. To avoid waste, you can easily regrow your ginger from these leftovers. Simply soak a piece in warm water overnight before placing it in a container and covering it with soil. Keep the soil moist and water regularly until shoots appear, and you should have new ginger ready to harvest in a few months. You can then repeat this process as needed or compost the ginger if you decide to grow another crop.
How to regrow mushrooms
If you’re looking for more of a challenge, you can grow mushrooms from scraps at home. However, fungi are a more high-maintenance crop than the others in this list. You’ll need to prepare a substrate mixture and some plant pots. We recommend using coffee grounds mixed with organic soil, however, if you’re a particularly heavy coffee drinker you can just use the grounds without the need for added soil.
You will need mushroom stems that are at least 1cm tall, anything less than this will significantly reduce your chances of the cutting taking and generating growth. To grow mushrooms, make sure your substrate is damp and place the cutting in with only the surface exposed. To keep the environment moist, cover with a plastic film such as cling film or a carrier bag and poke small holes in it to allow oxygen. You’ll then need to place the mushrooms in a dark place with a consistent temperature such as a cupboard. After that, it’s best to leave them be, only checking periodically to see if the substrate is getting too dry. After three weeks you should start to see growth and it is recommended that you replace the cling film and create more of a tent shape to allow the mushrooms to flower into a bulb shape. Two weeks later, your mushrooms will be ready for harvest.
Do herb plants regrow?
If you frequently use fresh herbs like basil, thyme, parsley, and mint but find yourself discarding a large amount, you will save yourself money by growing new plants from the scraps. The best part is that herbs are quite easy to regrow, simply take the cuttings and place them into a glass of water. Make sure that the stem is at least 10cm long, the upper leaves are well above the water line and the lower leaves have been removed.
Place the glass in a sunny area as most herbs like to have at least 6 hours of sunlight a day, and change the water frequently to avoid algae growth. Depending on the herb, it could take up to a couple of weeks to send out new roots. When these new roots have reached at least 1cm in length, you can transfer them into healthy soil and let them grow.
It should be noted that bulbous herbs such as chives, fennel, and lemongrass won’t propagate very well in this way. You should grow these like onions and leeks, as outlined above.
Can all fresh produce be regrown from scraps?
Unfortunately, without a green thumb and lots of gardening knowledge, you won’t be able to regrow everything that you buy from scraps. For example, vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower are essentially flower heads which will not send out new roots to be replanted. Instead, you’d have to grow these from scratch in an allotment or garden.
Additionally, whilst some other fruits and vegetables can be grown from scraps we don’t recommend growing them yourself if the intention is to quickly grow produce. Pineapples for example are grown from other pineapples and not from seeds, so whilst you can regrow from the scraps, they take years to grow and fully mature so they are not suitable for those looking to live off self-grown produce.
Other ways to use vegetable scraps
Of course, regrowing food from scraps isn’t the only way to live a more sustainable lifestyle and help reduce food waste. If you find that gardening isn’t really for you, there are other options to ensure that your scraps can yield a second life.
Garden compost
The most common option is to compost your leftover food. This allows the nutrients to be returned to the earth and the compost to be used to grow new plants and food. You can use this compost in your garden, or offer it to any neighbours, allotments, or wildlife societies that may have a use for it.
Make your own vegetable stock
Making stock from vegetable scraps is extremely easy to do, simply keep your scraps in a container and freeze them to be used when needed. To make the stock, heat a little bit of olive oil in a saucepan before frying the frozen scraps for about 5 minutes to soften. Then add in water and simmer on low heat for about one hour. Strain the broth, discard the solids, and leave the liquid to cool. You can then place this broth into containers, freeze it and use it within 3 months.
Use scraps as livestock feed
If you happen to own any livestock or know anyone who does, you can offer your scraps as a tasty and nutritious supplement to their feeding regime. Alternatively, you can try contacting any local farms or wildlife sanctuaries to see if they’d accept your leftovers in a bid to reduce food waste.
Create natural dyes
If you’re the creative type, you can use your scraps to create natural homemade dyes for any art and textile-based projects. This isn’t a completely new phenomenon, as this method has been around for hundreds of years. But this is a fun way to use any bright and colourful scraps you might have to try creating something new, such as a tie-dye t-shirt or watercolour painting. For a tutorial on making natural dyes, we recommend reading through this guide.
Start to live more sustainably with Planet Organic
If you’d like to get started with growing your food from scraps and live near one of our stores, you can buy your plastic-free fruit and vegetables with us to make sure that you’re starting with quality produce. Alternatively, if you’re looking for further ingredients to make delicious meals, you can browse through our range of food and drink products to find tasty dried, canned and bottled goods that ship directly to your door.
