7 Food Scraps to Regrow and Repurpose

The cool season is not far off and that means fall gardens are in! We all love free plants and this summer you may have had to purchase some cool season plants to supplement your garden so today I want to talk about how you can take the scraps of 7 common cool season plants and regrow them! I will walk you through how to regrow green onions, romaine lettuce, celery, carrot tops, bulb fennel, leeks, and herbs. 

What you'll need: 

- A container (glass preferable), this could be a cup or a dish 

- Fresh water 

- A sunny window is preferred but a bright indirect light will also work 

- Food scraps! 

You may have already dabbled in the art of regrowing food scraps; green onions are an easy and common way to start. 

1. Green Onion 

I am starting with green onions these are by far the easiest plants to regrow from grocery store scraps or from your own garden scraps. When you buy them at the store you get the whole plant but often only use the greens cutting back till only an inch is left and leaving the bulb and root to be thrown away. Instead, you can put those left-over bulbs into some water to soak. Let them soak for a few hours then later in the day, or the next day, plant them into a pot or into one of your beds. You'll want to cover the bulb completely, but you can leave the top bit of the leaves exposed. In no time you will have new green onions to harvest!  

Green onions are wonderful for adding a light onion taste to any dish or as a garnish I personally love to through them in mashed potatoes and any soup. 

2. Romaine Lettuce 

If you want another round of lettuce out of a grocery store head, then all you need is a heart and some water! The heart of the romaine lettuce is the bottom part where all the leaves are attached, it’s the stem of the plant. When you buy the head of lettuce cut all the leaves off a few inches from the bottom so that you preserve the heart for regrowth. The leaves you can wash and put in an airtight Tupperware for storage. The heart you'll put in a cup of water, bottom down. You want the water to just cover the bottom so only a half inch to an inch. You can put multiple hearts in one dish at a time just make sure there is always water in the dish and change it out every day or two to keep it fresh. Within the week you should see new growth! You'll never bury these in the garden they will simply grow in the water till you have enough leaves to harvest then you can start over or put the old hearts in the compost. 

3. Celery 

Regrowing celery is a lot like regrowing lettuce you need the base of the harvested crop. The base of the celery is the end where all the stocks come together like the lettuce heart. Cut your celery back leaving an inch and a half to two inches at the base. Place the base into a cup of about an inch of water and like the lettuce make sure to change the water every few days and add more as needed. Within about a week new growth should start to appear from the center of the celery. The old stalks on the outside will die away and as the plant grows you can strip them away the outermost pieces. After letting it soak in the water for a week or two you can transfer it into a container or into your garden. Plant it deep enough that the old stalks are covered, and the new stalks are above the soil. This means it should be planted about an inch deep. Water it in well and make sure to keep the soil moist for the first week and watch it grow!  

4. Carrot Tops 

Next, we have carrot tops, specifically just the tops, you can't regrow the root of a carrot from scraps but you can regrow the tops and you can use carrot tops in a range of things like salads, pesto sauce, and soups. It's known for its surprisingly carrot like flavor! This is a little trickier than some of the other plants because you need to be a little pickier about the carrots you choose. I recommend finding the freshest carrots you can with as much green on them as possible. If you can get them with the greens still attached that's great! To prepare your carrot cut the root almost completely off leaving only a little cap. Cut the greens back to about an inch. Place the root cap of the carrot in an inch of water and expect to wait about two weeks before you see root growth. Once you see root growth you can transfer the carrots into soil. you should also see some growth on the top of the carrot in the first two weeks while it's in water. Once in the soil water it in generously. Once you have some nice full tops you can harvest them again and use them in place of parsley, in salad, on sandwiches for a little of fun, or in soups and sauces. I personally would recommend trying carrot top pesto it's a fun twist on pesto and a great way to use and save carrot tops! 

5. Bulb Fennel 

You can get cut fennel from a store but instead opt for the entire plant, if you buy fennel with the bulb still intact you can grow new fennel in no time! Cut back all the foliage so that just the bulb is left then like the green onions place the bulb in a container with enough water to cover the bottom half of the bulb. You should see new root growth in about a week, make sure you are changing the water every few days to prevent fungal growth. You should also see some new green shoots start to appear in the second week. Once it has grown a good root system (this should take about 4 weeks) you can transplant it into your garden. Plant the bulb about 1/4 of an inch deep making sure to cover all the new roots but leaving the bulb partially exposed. Fennel is great for adding layers to a tomato sauce or a garnish in soup, it can even be used in a cake like carrot cake! 

6. Leeks 

I love leek and potato soup, so this is a favorite of mine! To regrow a leek, you should save the bulb and the last 3 to 4 inches of the plant. Place the leek roots in a cup of water with about 2 inches of water and let it soak until you start to see new growth with in the first week or two. Once you see new growth make sure that there is no rotting material, if there is wash it off before planting. Plant the leek about 3 inches down into the soil and water it in. Then let the leeks grow for as long as you want you can re-harvest them by cutting off the stalks at any time, the young small stalks will be more tender, but it will take time for the leek to regrow to the size of the original plant. 

7. Herbs 

Herbs is a very general category but something cool about herbs specifically those found in the mint family like, thyme, marjoram, oregano, basil, sage, rosemary, and savory is that they are incredibly easy to propagate. Propagation is the act of taking a piece of a plant like a stem or seed and growing a new plant. For this we will be propagating using a stem. If you pick a stem of mint off a plant, you can take that stem place it in a glass of water and wait a week or two and it will grow new roots. You can then plant that one stem and grow an entire new plant. You can also use store bought stems, but it might take a little longer to coax the roots out because they are not as fresh. But if you go to the store and buy some fresh rosemary for a recipe, take a few of the stems and set them aside to try propagating. To prepare the stems first strip away the leaves at the bottom you don't want any leaves sitting in the water this can cause them to mold. Once you have cleared the bottom few inches of the stem place it in a glass of water a glass half full should be enough, again check to make sure there are no leaves resting in the water. Put the glass in a sunny spot and wait! Change the water every few days to keep it fresh and within two weeks you should see root growth. After about 4 weeks there should be enough roots to plant the stem in the ground, make sure to cover all the roots and water it in. for the first week take extra care to water your propagation while it establishes itself.  

This same system can be used to propagate thyme, lavender, basil, oregano, mint, and many more herbs!