How to Grow Your Own Produce From Kitchen Scraps
Gardening has really taken off this year and during the coronavirus crisis—victory gardens are back!—and that’s meant that garden centers and seed companies are struggling to keep up with the demand for fruit and vegetable plants and seeds as people try their hand at growing their own produce. You don’t have to wait for your local plant nursery or places you buy plants online to restock to start growing, though: You may have the makings for a produce garden—and some other fun plants—sitting in your fridge or your compost bin.
To start scrap gardening, simply recycle some of your kitchen scraps into whole new vegetables and fruits—no fancy equipment required. Just choose your scrap gardening starters wisely.
“Some things are gardenable, but some are merely amusements,” says Barbara Pleasant, gardening expert and author of Homegrown Pantry.
In other words, you can’t turn a random bit of produce leftover from last night’s dinner into a full-grown squash just by planting it in the yard. Luckily, even the projects that aren’t necessarily going to bear fruit (literally) could become fun things you can do with your kids while you’re stuck at home.
While you may have tried growing an avocado from the seed by putting an old avocado pit with toothpicks in water with lackluster results, with the right kitchen scraps, you won’t have to wait a decade for your investment to pay off. (Take planting pumpkin seeds.) With just a little water and attention, you can grow your own fresh veggies in as little as a week or two.
A pro tip before you get planting: Start any plants-in-training in a dark-colored container.
“If you use a dark-colored earthenware jar, the root section of the stem is not getting light,” Pleasant says. “Having their heads in the sun and feet in the shade encourages rooting.”
Here’s how to help your favorite fruits and veggies take root—and where to plant them once they’ve grown: Grab your gardening tools and get planting.