Did you know that if you buy just about any fresh veg from a grocery store, you can grow more of it on your own?
While some of these methods might not net you tons of produce, they’re a fun project and can at least save you a little in produce expenditures (and decrease waste!) if you were originally planning on throwing the seeds/butts/eyes of your fresh veggies away, here’s a chance to give them new life!
Trying to harvest and grow fruit and veg from seed is often the least reliable way to grow veg from supermarket produce (due to hybrids and interbreeding, which means you’re never really sure what you’re going to get-if anything- with grocery harvested seeds), but since seeds are familiar, it’s definitely worth mentioning! Seeds that are most likely to grow are those that have not been irradiated (which stops the seeds from being able to grow), and those that are fully mature (for example, colorful peppers instead of green peppers, which are not ripe enough to produce viable seeds). It is advisable to wait until the fruit/veg is very ripe or overripe before harvesting your seeds.
Tomatoes: Slice ripe tomatoes into slices, and place 4 of the slices in a gallon container of potting soil. Cover with a half inch or so more potting soil, place in a warm, sunny place, and keep moist. Seedlings should start sprouting in 7-14 days, at which time you should pull the strongest ones and re-plant them in their own pots. Once there is no longer a danger of frost, you can plant these in the ground outside or move their pots outside on a patio.
Peppers: Remove seeds from ripe (orange, yellow, or red peppers are most likely to be ripe) peppers, dry them for a few days. Once dry, test your seeds by placing them in a clear zip bag with a damp paper towel in it, and taping this to a window. The ones that sprout (time to sprouting can vary) can be moved to starting trays or their own pots. Once there is no longer a danger of frost, you can plant these in the ground outside or move the pots outside on a patio.
Winter Squash: Wait until the squash is as ripe as possible without rotting (slightly rotten is fine if you weren’t planning to eat it, or didn’t get the chance to), then remove the seeds and let dry for several days. Do as you would for peppers. Keep in mind that the squash that grow from grocery store squash seeds may be very different than the squash they came from.
Citrus fruits: Remove whole seeds from the citrus fruit of your choice, and place in a bowl of water. The ones that sink are the most developed and have the best chance of growing. Wrap in a damp paper towel and place in a clear zip bag but leave the bag slightly open. Place in a dark place (like a drawer or in your closet) for 2-6 weeks, until 2 small leaves are clearly visible. Carefully plant this tiny plant in a container of soil. Keep the soil moist. If kept well, this will form a tree that will bear fruit in 3-6 years. In a warm climate the pot can be moved outside, while in a cooler one you may want to keep your tree inside in the winter.
Avocado/Mango: Do as you would for citrus fruits, but instead of waiting for leaves, just wait until the root is about 3in long before taking it out and planting it in a pot (you will have to scrub the mango pit clean, let it dry a few days, and remove the outer part of the pit to get to the large bean-like thing in the middle, you do not have to do this for the avocado). Note that it will take about 8 years to start producing fruit, and when/if it does, it may not produce the kind of fruit you were expecting. But they do make a nice houseplant!
Stone fruits (peaches, apricots, plums, etc…): Place the pits in a small jar of dirt in your fridge for 3-4 months, until they start sprouting roots. When they begin to root, take them out of the fridge and plant them in pots. These are another 3-6 year investment, but of all the store-bought-pit-trees, these are probably going to produce fruit that is most similar to the original fruit.
From an existing base or part of the fruit/root:
Growing things from existing parts of plants will yield you a lot more consistent results and is often a lot easier than growing from seed, but it is a little more of a unique challenge!
Onion/Green onion/Celery: Cut the base off the onion or celery bunch about an inch from the roots. Set in a small, shallow container about half-full of water, coming up only a quarter to a half inch up on the base. In a few days, you’ll see shoots come up and roots start to form. Change water every day or so until there are plentiful roots, and then transplant to a container filled with potting soil, where they will continue to grow.
Turnips/Beets: Cut the root off about 2 inches below the top. Eat the root and plant the top in some potting soil so the very top is just sticking out of the soil. It will grow greens, which you can harvest and eat raw or sauté, and over time the rood will re-grow.
Potatoes/Sweet Potatoes: Wait until eyes start to form on your old potatoes. Cut them up, making sure that at least one sprouting eye is on each piece. Get a deep container like a trash can and fill the bottom 6in with gravel or rocks. Fill the container with potting soil/dirt and bury your potato pieces about an inch deep. They will shoot up leaves and stems within about a week (you can eat sweet potato leaves, but NOT white potato leaves). Place outside if it’s after the last freeze where you live or keep inside by a window. Wait about 4-5 months or until the above ground plants die, then dump out the container and find all your new potatoes! Its like a scavenger hunt!
Outdoor: Stick a single clove of garlic 2 inches deep in the dirt in the fall a few weeks to a month before the ground freezes. The bigger the clove, the bigger your bulb will be when you harvest. Cover with mulch or straw or cardboard or whatever you have if you live in an area with cold winters. Harvest in July/August the next year.
Indoor, for garlic greens: Plant 3-4 cloves in a pot by a sunny window. The cloves will shoot up greens within about 2 weeks, which you can cut and use like garlic.
Ginger: Essentially, take a piece of ginger with some eyes on it (more likely if it is older (but not shriveled) or organic, as conventional ginger is often treated with growth retardants which make it take a lot longer to grow) and do as suggested for avocado/mango, as above. You can harvest the above-ground shoots and it will grow more ginger below ground over time!
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