Growing Kitchen Scraps

Testing to see if the mushroom stalk will grow tiny mushroom babies.

Growing Indoor Kitchen Scraps

Why not take composting to a new level? Instead of throwing out your scraps into the compost bin, how about trying to grow new crops from the bits you have left over after cooking. There are a lot of vegetables to try. Anything with a bit of root will do for a start such as carrots or parsnips; these will set out new shoots from the central crown of the cut top when left is a saucer of water with some tissue in it. It’s a great way to get children involved in both seeing how things grow, and getting them active in the kitchen.

In the growing season it’s also been proved that if you put the cut tops of cut vegetables like carrots around the actual crop in the vegetable patch, it distracts the carrot fly away from the carrots you will be harvesting later in the season. Some sceptics do say that doing this might attract the pests in the first place, they might have a point.

Here are some suggestions for growing on the windowsill:

Spring onions (Scallions)

Take the left over white roots and place them in a container with a small amount of water in it. Within no time new sprouts will come us. Change the water once a week to stop it smelling.

Onions

Use the root bit that’s cut off when prepping. Place in a saucer or put into pot with some soil in it.

Lemon grass

Lemongrass is great for juicers. They grow the same as grass so cut them when about 6-12 inches tall with scissors. They should just keep coming back.

Lettuce, Celery and Cabbage

Use the crown pieces after cutting. They can also be placed in water or into moist soil.

Ginger

Interestingly different. The ginger root will sprout easily when put in contact with soil. Just pull it from the ground, trim a bit off then place it back into the soil again.

Potatoes

Pick either a small full potato or cut a big one up so that each piece has an eye (growing point) These will grow very easily in soil.  You might see just how desperate potatoes are to sprout when you leave them in the cupboard for too long, so I don’t think they will be too demanding to grow. Sweet potatoes will be grown in the same way.

Garlic

One clove will produce a new bulb eventually but if you just want a bit of green garlic trimming then cut the new growth off as it appears to garnish your salads.

Mushrooms

Mushroom make for an interesting growing project.  There are spores you can get that just sprinkle onto the soil surface before leaving in a dark place. You can get these in most garden centres now.  The way I am experimenting is by cutting off the stalk then pushing it into moist compost. Apparently (I don’t know this for sure yet as mine has only just gone in) the stalk will produce little baby mushrooms which can be harvested. I’ll keep you posted.

Pineapple

Cut the tops from the fruit and trim it of the moist flesh. Place the top in a bit of soil and eventually it will send up ne shoots from the crown.

Avocados

The large seed in an avocado can be spiked with three cocktail sticks and placed on a glass just above the water.  It will send roots to look for the moisture. It’s a great one for kids to take an interest in.

Sprouting seeds

As we are on the subject of growing on windowsills, don’t forget the sprouting seeds. Edible ones such as alfalfa, lentils, mung beans and chic peas are very widely used.  The list is pretty long of seeds that we can grow to eat too. I haven’t tried a lot of these, but I might make an effort to grow some over the following months to see how they do.   Some are more common that others!

Choose from: adzuki bean, almond, amaranth, annatto seed, anise seed, arugula, barley, basil, navy bean, pinto bean, lima bean, broccoli, buckwheat, cabbage, canola seed, caragana, cauliflower, celery, chia seed (mint family), chickpeas, chives, cilantro (coriander), clover, cress, dill, fennel, fenugreek, flax seed, garlic, hemp seed, kale, kamut, kat (a type of grass seed), leek, pearl millet, mizuna (Japanese greens), mustard, oats, onion, black-eyed peas, green peas, pigeon peas, snow peas, peanut, psyllium (husk fibre from the plantago plant), (pumpkin seeds),  quinoa, radish, rye, sesame, soybean, spelt, sunflower, tatsoi (spinach mustard), triticale (wheat and rye hybrid), watercress, and wheat berries.