A basic starter project if you want to start growing your own food but have no money & no experience, assuming you like green onions.
Supplies needed: Dead potted plant from free pile/dumpster/friend or family member, used food container, green onion ends.
1. Remove lid from container, it's now your plant pot's saucer
2. Either poke holes very carefully and slowly (not ideal) or slice the corners off with scissors (better)
3. Remove soil from the dead plant's pot, put in container. This one was super heavy in perlite (the white stuff, helps with drainage), so I mixed in another pot that had more organic matter (brown stuff, mostly helps retain moisture, sometimes provides nutrients). Water until water comes out the bottom, then let drain in sink until until it's done. Put pot on lid:
4. Stick the green onions in, deep enough that they can stand up on their own, or until the white part is covered:
5. Stick in window, water when dry, and wait:
Why not just stick them in water?
Because they make the water really smelly.
Just change the water often, then it won't stink.
I will forget, and then it will stink. Plus, I prefer growing in soil.
Thanks for asking! I started because growing them in water didn't work well for me. But on top of that, if you regrow in water, eventually their growth will peter out. This is because in addition to water and carbon dioxide, plants need other nutrients. These are stored in the bulbs of green onions, but they will be depleted by growth if the plant can't replace them. Potting soil often has leftover nutrients, and if you've got compost you can also mix that in.
Why not just put fertilizer in the water?
Two reasons. First off, that's a great way to grow algea, unless you make sure the water isn't getting light. Secondly, most cheap, widely available fertilizers are meant to be used for plants that are in soil, so they're not complete (they're missing iron and maybe some other things? It's been a while since i looked it up). So eventually, if you use water and normal ferts, the plant will stop growing. If you have access to hydroponic ferts, those would work, but you also have enough money that you're not the target audience for this post.
I don't trust the potting soil from random plants.
Completely understandable, and probably smart too. In that case, you have a couple other options if you want soil for free. First off, you could look for dead vegetable or other edible plants in pots, and know that those will not have been treated with something that makes them inedible to humans. You can also look for free bags of partially used potting soil in your local buy-nothing/free stuff groups/craigslist/nextdoor/mutual aid groups.
What if I have some money for soil?
Then you can look for potting soil, or make your own (plenty of recipes online for this)
Help! There are tiny flies that look like fruit flies!
Those are probably fungus gnats, and there's plenty of ways to get rid of them. My two favorites are watering a bit less and adding half an inch of soil to the top, making your plants an unsuitable habitat, or getting a mosquito dunk and keeping it in your watering can. Mosquito dunks have Bt, a type of bacteria that kills mosquitos, fungus gnats, and other related insects. There are other types of Bt that go after other types of insect, such as cabbage moths. It's considered an organic treatment.
I've literally never seen them get other pests indoors.
How much light do they need?
As much as you can give them, probably. If you have a window that gets midday sun, use that. Or a grow light. If they don't get enough light, they'll be floppy and pale, still edible, but not as flavorful.
When it wouldn't look silly to harvest them. I generally wait until they're at least a foot tall (30cm). I'll post an update when I do.
Why didn't you just use the dead plant's pot, dumbass?
A) it didn't have a saucer to protect the surface underneath, B) this is a concept post, and often plant pots are too wide to fit in window sills, and C) I didn't like the pot.
Won't it just grow into a bulb?
Nope, green onions are actually usually a different type than bulbing onions. Usually. And they're perennial! I've never had one try forming a bulb, but you can just eat them if yours do.
Can I ask you another question?
Yep! I'll add it to the update.
