Growing Food With Scraps

Joined
Apr 7, 2015
Messages
27
Reaction score
7
Hardiness Zone
Zone 5a
Country
United States
How many of you have done this; grown food with scraps? I tried it last year with celery. It did look like celery, but it seemed to get a little bit moldy after about 2-3 weeks. Do you think this is a safe method to consume? I saw someone do it with pineapple before too and it seemed to work for them. I'm interested to see what other people have tried as far as vegetables go as well.
 
Joined
Feb 16, 2015
Messages
61
Reaction score
30
Location
TN Plateau
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
6a
Country
United States
we often keep seeds from great tomatoes, peppers and cukes and use those seeds the following year. We have had pretty good success with that, but have not been able to do celery or fruits, as we don't have the climate and season for those.

The picture perfect veggies are the result of very tight seed choice, copious water and nutrients at just the right time, strategic soil and amendments and pesticides that we gardeners can not get.

Wash the freshly picked stuff from your garden and it should be just fine. I don't think I would do moldy stuff, unless it was well washed.
 
Joined
Jan 3, 2015
Messages
223
Reaction score
128
Location
Tennessee
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
6a
Country
United States
I tried the celery experiment earlier in the year (see my other post). I started the end of the celery in water until it put out a shoot. But it didn't have any roots - I think that was my mistake. Anyway, I planted it in a pot and it did well for a couple of weeks, then, alas, it died quietly in it's sleep.

I am going to try again, but do it outside once the weather gets a little warmer. I'll post my next attempt once I start again.
 
Joined
Jul 17, 2013
Messages
3,375
Reaction score
945
I haven't tried it yet, but I have heard that you can actually grow a lot different veggies from scraps, even lettuce. That to me sounds like a really good and sweet deal! Much like an unlimited source of lettuce :O Imagine that! I heard all you have to do is place a healthy looking leave in some water until roots start to spout out, then plant it. Sounds so easy.
 
Joined
Sep 20, 2012
Messages
5,313
Reaction score
1,844
Hardiness Zone
7a
Country
Poland
Growing food with scraps is easy.
I tried it with carrot tops, I managed to grow tiny carrot leaves:) They weren't edible, but they looked really pretty. Experimenting can be a lot of fun!:)
 

Pat

Joined
Oct 12, 2012
Messages
1,873
Reaction score
573
Location
Maryland
Country
United States
I started a celery stock, it is doing well right now. I think I need to set it in some soil, I would like to set it out but it is cool at night in my area.
 
Joined
Sep 29, 2012
Messages
3,404
Reaction score
1,120
Location
Louisiana
Hardiness Zone
9b
Country
United States
My celery pooped out as didn't my scallions; my onions got drowned or perished in the heat... lettuce, well we won't go into that, lol. Garlic is doing okay this year, and I got a small batch of potatoes last year. I think we posted links to stuff you can regrow in another thread, but I don't remember who started it. It's been a while.
 
Joined
Sep 29, 2012
Messages
3,404
Reaction score
1,120
Location
Louisiana
Hardiness Zone
9b
Country
United States
Growing food with scraps is easy.
I tried it with carrot tops, I managed to grow tiny carrot leaves:) They weren't edible, but they looked really pretty. Experimenting can be a lot of fun!:)

Those carrot tops are good butterfly larvae food! I was running out of dill and fennel one year and remembered the carrot tops I'd started. Helped to feed the Eastern Swallowtail caterpillars for a day.
 
Joined
Jan 3, 2015
Messages
223
Reaction score
128
Location
Tennessee
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
6a
Country
United States
The consensus seems to be that, while you can get the plants to grow, they don't really produce a lot of edible food. Which is fine with me, I'm more of flower gardener and some of the edibles are pretty plants, especially carrots, I like the feathery texture.

I'm going to give it a try once the weather breaks here and we get some reliably warm days with not frost at night. I'll post some photos once I get around to it.
 
Joined
Jan 30, 2015
Messages
1,530
Reaction score
509
Hardiness Zone
6b
Country
United States
I haven't done growing food from scrap, but this sounds like a whole lots of fun to do! My son wants to experience growing pineapple by taking the top of and put it in the water. I am not sure if it will ever have root since our weather is still too chilly.
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
28,000
Messages
265,676
Members
14,740
Latest member
loz

Latest Threads

Top