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    You are here: Home / Nature / Gardening / More Plant Science: Regrowing Vegetables from Scraps

     

    More Plant Science: Regrowing Vegetables from Scraps

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    Observing how some vegetables magically regrow from scraps is a fascinating plant science project you can do at home with the kids even if you don't have a yard! The boys and I are watching a few items regrow (or not, in one case) in our small window greenhouse.

    Introduce plant science to kids by regrowing vegetables indoors!

    I remember growing vegetables from scraps in my elementary school classroom 35 years ago (don't do the math, please). Then, in my college years I toted around a small indoor avocado tree I had grown from a pit. Of all the indoor gardening activities, it is one of the most satisfying. Garbage turns into stuff you can eat! Kind of cool, if you ask me. My older son enjoyed growing root veggies in his DIY see-through planter, but I think he may be liking this even more.

    Fun plant science observations project for kids. Regrow veggies.

    This is what it looks like now (including our coffee bean plant and a random succulent!). We started with celery and scallions, which should the most immediate results, and thus the best to lure kids into the magic. Cut the celery off near the base and the scallions just near the green line and sit the bottoms in water.

    Later we added sweet potato and avocado. Both should be suspended in water using toothpicks.

    The avocado pit is stalled, I think because the window is not warm and sunny enough yet. We'll see. I'll probably try a new one in a few weeks. I've had great success with avocado pits in the past.

    Turn garbage into food with this fun indoor gardening activity for kids

    The sweet potatoes are eeking along. We can see some teeny tiny roots and sprouts. Part of the fun of plant science with kids is pitting (pun) one plant against another and seeing which ones "win" the race to grow. That's how we're conducting our kitchen seed and bean race and it's been part of the discussion with the boys about the veggie scraps, too.

    There are lots of other veggies scraps you can grow in your window without ever touching a bag of soil. Check out these how-tos:

    • Carrot tops, parsnips, beets -- any of these types of root veggies
    • Pineapple
    • Bok choy and romaine lettuce: just like celery

    Have you ever regrown vegetable scraps? What is your favorite way to garden with kids? 

    Check out more easy ways to garden in tight spots by following my pinterest board:
    Follow Erica • What Do We Do All Day?'s board Tiny Space Gardening on Pinterest.

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    « Splendid Read Aloud Chapter Books for 3rd Graders
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. christene says

      April 01, 2014 at 11:56 am

      Tell me more about growing coffee beans...

      Reply
      • Erica MomandKiddo says

        April 01, 2014 at 11:59 am

        That's just a plant my son brought home from a school field trip. I don't actually think it will ever reach the point of producing coffee beans.

        Reply
    2. Amy @ Sunlit Pages says

      April 01, 2014 at 4:51 pm

      You can regrow an avocado?! Are you kidding me?! I can't picture how that works, but you've intrigued me enough that we must try it!

      Reply
      • Erica MomandKiddo says

        April 01, 2014 at 6:39 pm

        It will grow into a tree ( a small one indoors), but it would never bear fruit.

        Reply
        • Amy @ Sunlit Pages says

          April 02, 2014 at 12:07 pm

          Oh, okay, that makes much more sense!

          Reply
          • StoneMaven says

            February 14, 2015 at 9:22 am

            You can get dwarf avocado trees that will bear fruit indoors like mayer lemons do.

            Reply
        • Marsy says

          September 28, 2016 at 7:01 am

          Yes, it will bear fruit. My grandfather replanted an avocado pit and eventually repotted it in my sister's garden and after 8 years it began producing and bearing avocados, which we ate and enjoyed. We eat from that tree every year now and remember my grandfather, now that he's passed on. One year we had over 100 avocados.

          Reply
          • Erica says

            October 04, 2016 at 6:39 am

            Good to know!

            Reply
            • Donna B says

              April 11, 2018 at 8:53 am

              Only works in a warm climate like California. Here in Boston the avocado tree only survives in a greenhouse environment. But the plants can be grown on a windowsill and get very tall and leggy. Leaves tend to grow up on top and looks really odd. Fun for kids- but a bit slow growing.

    3. Kim Vij (@EducatorsSpin) says

      April 03, 2014 at 11:00 am

      I was just telling Amanda last night that I need to do this with my girls. I think they would love it. So glad to see you were successful with it. I think we're going to try Kale and Carrots too.

      Reply
    4. adrian says

      April 03, 2014 at 11:47 am

      I love this idea. I did this last summer with a green onion from the garden. We had continuous green onions on the window sill for a while. I think I'll try a sweet potato next.

      Reply
    5. boymamateachermama says

      April 06, 2014 at 11:32 pm

      What a great idea! Thanks for sharing at After School!

      Reply
    6. Shaunna Evans says

      April 09, 2014 at 5:48 am

      I had no idea you could regrow so many different vegetables. What a fun science investigation for kids. Thanks so much for sharing in the Discover & Explore linky. I'm featuring this post today.

      Reply
    7. Julie says

      April 14, 2014 at 4:33 pm

      If you use an organic sweet potato you will have better results. Traditionally grown potatoes are sprayed with a substance meant to prevent the eyes from sprouting. It could be a good side by side experiment.

      Reply
      • Erica MomandKiddo says

        April 14, 2014 at 4:36 pm

        How interesting! That doesn't surprise me at all! It would explain why my potatoes always sprout on my kitchen counter before I get a chance to eat them! We did, in fact use an organic sweet potato for this project. Since taking this photo it has sprouted a lovely vine. I love your idea of an experiment!

        Reply
        • Sherry says

          April 18, 2015 at 4:52 pm

          After your sweet potato sprouts and grows a few inches tall, break off the sprout and put it into water. When the sprout grows root, you can then plant it in the ground and grow whole new sweet potatoes.

          Reply
          • Erica MomandKiddo says

            April 20, 2015 at 6:23 am

            Great idea! Thanks for the tip. Of course, we would need a yard. 🙂

            Reply
            • Lackie May says

              November 16, 2015 at 2:44 pm

              I may be really late, but there are great articles on growing sweet potatoes in buckets. Just make sure to use food safe containers! I have done it successfully and continue to reuse some of the potatoes each year. It is not super quick, but it is tasty!!

            • Erica MomandKiddo says

              November 17, 2015 at 8:34 am

              Thanks for the tip!

        • Patti says

          February 25, 2020 at 3:45 pm

          Where did you get your glass terrarium ?

          Reply
          • Erica says

            February 26, 2020 at 8:55 am

            IKEA!

            Reply
    8. Sunny says

      March 28, 2017 at 11:34 pm

      What is in the pot all the way in the back?

      Reply
    9. Heather says

      May 13, 2021 at 7:56 am

      This is so cool- I didn’t know you could regrow celery and romaine!
      I love your pitting pun-
      (Also I have to say it- I’m not sure if you meant to just says boys but girls can have fun with competitive races too 🙂
      Re:
      “Part of the fun of plant science with kids is pitting (pun) one plant against another and seeing which ones "win" the race to grow. That's how we're conducting our kitchen seed and bean race and it's been part of the discussion with the boys about the veggie scraps, too.”

      Reply
      • Erica says

        May 13, 2021 at 11:46 am

        I totally agree about girls! - I was just talking about my two boys. 😉

        Reply
    10. sanaa sharma says

      May 21, 2021 at 2:13 am

      Thank you so much for such a nice article. The only organization that provides CBSE, NCERT, and State wise board solutions for free, that too online.
      So you can get an online test series of NEET and JEE 2020 for free.
      CBSE solved paper

      Reply

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