Growing Plants from Garden Scraps

You may not have realized it, but there is a literal garden waiting to be grown in your very own kitchen. You've certainly noticed seeds in your citrus and apples, but did you know you could also grow an avocado plant from a pit and sprout a fun carrot plant from the carrot top, or a pineapple plant from the pineapple top?

Kids will love experimenting with kitchen scraps to see what they can grow. While many of these scraps will not produce actual fruit, they will grow into plants that will brighten up a kitchen window sill. Kids will be amazed that they were able to grow a real plant from something that otherwise would have been garbage.

In the spirit of recycling, try using washed out yogurt, sour cream or cottage cheese containers for potting where applicable. Just make sure you make a hole for drainage in each container.

Carrot top

Carrot tops will sprout and grow into bushy plants, but will not grow another carrot. You can start your carrot top either in a pot of soil or on a newspaper lined plate. Cut off the top about 2 inches from the crown. If there is any green on your carrot, cut it off.

If growing your carrot top in dirt, place the carrot just below the soil line in a pot. Keep the soil damp and in a few weeks, new leaves should begin to emerge.

To grow your carrot on a plate, line it with newspaper and add enough water to make it nice and damp. Place carrot tops directly on the newspaper and add water to the newspaper often enough to keep it damp. Leaves should sprout in a few days.

One more carrot sprouting method is to fill a shallow bowl with small pebbles or marbles. Push the carrot tops into the pebbles or marbles and fill the bowl with lukewarm water. Place the bowl near a sunny window and in a few days you will see the pretty fern-like sprouts of the carrot.

Your carrot plant will last until it out grows it's container. It also makes a fun table decoration.

Pineapple Top

Like a carrot plant, an indoor pineapple plant will probably not produce new fruit. However, it will make a fun and exotic houseplant. To prepare your pineapple top for planting, cut off the top of a ripe pineapple with fresh green leaves in the center. Remove the bottom leaves and clean off the fruit. Set the top aside for one day before planting.

Pineapples do best in acidic soil, so after filling a pot with soil, mix in a few tablespoons of rinsed coffee grounds. Plant the pineapple top in the soil, so the soil is even with the bottom of the crown. Keep the plant well watered. Your pineapple plant will do best if misted with a diluted liquid fertilizer. The pineapple is related to air plants and gets a lot of it's nourishment from the air, rather than the soil.

Avocado Pit

After making your next batch of guacamole, save your avocado pit and rinse it off. Since the avocado pit is soft, you should be able to easily poke 3 toothpicks into the sides of the pit. Fill a glass with water and rest the "picked" pit on the rim of the glass with the pointy side of the pit pointing up. Keep an eye on the water level and fill as necessary to keep the pit's bottom submersed in water.

With in a few weeks, you should have a inch or so of root and can transplant your avocado pit into a pot of soil. Make sure you keep half of the pit exposed above the soil line. Your avocado plant should be kept moist and fertilized every 3-4 weeks for best results. It will also flourish in bright light and 30% humidity.

Citrus Seeds

When choosing citrus seeds for planting select seeds from very ripe, or over ripe fruit as they will germinate faster than seeds from younger fruit. You can plant citrus seeds directly in potting soil. Make sure to keep them well watered until they germinate. Citrus seeds will do best with the same growing conditions as avocados: bright light and 30% humidity. Try growing your very own grapefruit, lemon or orange plant. It is possible that your plants will eventually produce fruit, however, it could take up to 5 years before you get your first blossom.

Garlic

You can plant garlic cloves, pointy side up directly in a pot of soil. Place your garlic plant on a sunny window sill and keep watered. Within a week you should have little green shoots emerging from the soil. You can actually use these shoots in your cooking as a garnish on soups or baked potatoes, or to give a garlicky taste to cooking.