Grow your own food using scraps

Stuff you’ll need:

• Fruit and veg
• Kitchen knife (ask your grown up for help with this)
• Pots or containers to grow in
• Compost
• Water

Info

Growing fruit and veg from scraps is an easy and affordable way to increase the nature in your home. This video from Tasty shows you how to re-grow a variety of fruit and veg! Watch the video now to find out how it’s done, then enjoy your home grown food!

Potatoes

Tools you’ll need:

1 sweet potato, 1 yellow potato, toothpicks, jar or cups and water.

How to:

Halve the sweet potatoes, and place cut side down in a jar filled with water. Use toothpicks stuck into the sweet potato to keep it slightly elevated from the bottom. Place it in direct sunlight. Replace with clean water every one to two days. Once the potatoes have roots and sprouts (called slips) about 4-5 inches long, twist the slips from the potato, and set them in their own bowl of shallow water. The slips will begin growing their own roots, and once they are one inch long, you can plant them in soil.

Lettuce

Tools you’ll need:

1 head lettuce, jar or cup and water.

How to:

1. On a cutting board, cut two inches of the base of lettuce off. 2. Set the lettuce on its base in a glass with ½ inch of water, and place it in sunlight. Change the water every day. 3. After 5-7 days, some new leaves should have begun to sprout from the center, and roots should be forming. Transfer it to soil and you can begin harvesting leaves when they reach 6-8 inches tall.

Bok Choy

Tools you’ll need:

1 head bok choy, jar or cup and water.

How to:

On a cutting board, cut the the 2-inch base of the bok choy. Place the bok choy in a container with water and place in a sunny location. Replace with fresh water every day or two. Use a spray bottle to mist the center of the plant for extra hydration if necessary. With time, the outside of the bok choy will deteriorate and turn yellow, while the center will grow turing from a pale green to darker green. When the bok choy has grown new leafy-growth at its center, transfer it to a container with potting mix. The container must have a good drainage hole. Plant the bok choy deep, so only the tips of the new green leaves pointing up. Place in an area that gets at least 6 hours of sunlight a day. Bok choy requires a lot of water, so water generously.

Scallions (also known as: spring onions or green onions)

Tools you’ll need:

1 bunch scallions, jar or cup and water.

How to:

On a cutting board, trim the base of the scallions, keeping approximately 2 inches of the roots and base intact. Place the roots in ½ inch of water with sunlight. Change the water every other day. Transfer to soil after 5-7 days or keep in the glass of water. You can begin harvesting when they are fully grown.

Onions

Tools you’ll need:

1 red or yellow onion, pot and soil.

How to:

Trim the base of the onion into a cube, keeping 1-2 inches of the root base intact. Plant the onion directly into soil with a thin layer of soil covering the cut top. To make room in your garden, you can trim the sides of the onion as only the center is needed for regrowth. Harvest the onions when the green tops have yellowed and fallen over.

Ginger

Tools you’ll need:

1 knob of ginger, baking dish, water, pot and soil.

How to:

Place the ginger in a baking dish and soak it in warm water for overnight. Ginger roots grow horizontally so fill a shallow, wide plant pot with rich, well-draining potting soil. If you want more than one plant, you can cut the root into pieces, as long as they are at least an inch long (each should each still have at least 3 “eyes”), and as long as each plant has at least 8 inches of its own space in the pot. Plant the ginger with the eye bud pointing up below 1-2 inches of soil. Water lightly (often, but not so that it is over soaked) and keep in a warm place, though not one with huge amounts of direct sunlight per day. It will take a few months before the ginger is large enough to begin harvesting pieces from it.