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.
I remember growing vegetables from scraps in my elementary school classroom 35 45 years ago (don't do the math, please). Then, in my college years I had a small indoor avocado tree I had grown from a pit.
Of all the indoor gardening activities, growing plants from scraps 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.
What You Need
- Vegetables such the tops of carrots, bottoms of celery, scallions with the green parts cut off, sweet potato ends (about 2-4 inches), avocado pit.
- Jars or containers
- Water
- Toothpicks (the sharp kind)
Get started
Place carrot tops, celery bottoms, scallions in jars with about half an inch of water
Poke at least three toothpicks in the sweet potatoes and suspend in jar so that the cut side sits in water. Do the same with the avocado pit so that the wide end of the pit sits in water.
Place containers in a sunny window.
Observe daily
Change the water every 2-3 days, as it tends to get a little mucky. After a few days new growth will appear!
Notes
We started with celery and scallions, which should give you the most immediate results, and thus the best kind of veg scrap to lure kids into the magic.
Later we added sweet potato and avocado. Both should be suspended in water using toothpicks.
Our avocado pit is stalled because the window is not warm and sunny enough yet. I've had great success with avocado pits in the past but they can be fussy and aren't ideal for beginners. (Note that you will not get avocados unless you plant it outdoors in a year-round sunny climate and wait several years, ha!)
Our 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.
- Parsnips, beets, turnips -- any of these types of root veggies
- Pineapple
- Bok choy and romaine lettuce, try these just like celery
christene says
Tell me more about growing coffee beans...
Erica MomandKiddo says
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.
Amy @ Sunlit Pages says
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!
Erica MomandKiddo says
It will grow into a tree ( a small one indoors), but it would never bear fruit.
Amy @ Sunlit Pages says
Oh, okay, that makes much more sense!
StoneMaven says
You can get dwarf avocado trees that will bear fruit indoors like mayer lemons do.
Marsy says
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.
Erica says
Good to know!
Donna B says
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.
Kim Vij (@EducatorsSpin) says
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.
adrian says
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.
boymamateachermama says
What a great idea! Thanks for sharing at After School!
Shaunna Evans says
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.
Julie says
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.
Erica MomandKiddo says
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!
Sherry says
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.
Erica MomandKiddo says
Great idea! Thanks for the tip. Of course, we would need a yard. 🙂
Lackie May says
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
Thanks for the tip!
Patti says
Where did you get your glass terrarium ?
Erica says
IKEA!
Sunny says
What is in the pot all the way in the back?
Heather says
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.”
Erica says
I totally agree about girls! - I was just talking about my two boys. 😉
Sharon says
Hi, Why do some plants need only water and some soil? At what point do you plant in the ground a plant?
Erica says
The plants in the soil are not part of the experiment, they are just bystanders. We never put the plants in the ground, just grew them in water as part of the experiment. However, you could put them in soil after they develop roots.