Now comes the fun part. Are there any kitchen scraps that can be used to grow plants?

Gather:

1. •  Vegetable kitchen scraps such as potato peels, carrots tops, carrot peels, carrot bottoms, the green onion bottoms, avocado pits, sprouting sweet potatoes, sprouting onions and garlic, anything from plants that might go into the trash and could be used to grow a new plant.
   

2. • Containers to start plants in
   

3. • Water
   

4. •  Potting Soil, as needed
   

Explore:

1. Carrots, radishes, turnips, parsnips and/or beets:

An easy experiment to perform with root vegetables is to see which part(s) will grow when placed in a shallow dish of water:  the tops (green side up), the middle and/or peels, or the bottom.

Place some small pebbles in the bottom of a shallow dish.

Set the plant parts you wish to test on top of the pebbles, and cover half way with water. leave the top of the part exposed to air. Replenish with water to keep the bottom of the plant part covered. What part grows?

2. Onions or garlic:

Ever seen green leaves sprouting from an onion bulb? You can plant those in soil to grow a plant. What about green or spring onions? Do you cut off the bottom of white part with the roots and throw it away when you prepare the green onions for eating? See if the bottom part, sometimes called a “nib,” will it grow if you plant it in damp soil. Place the root ends down for best results. Or do half each way and see what happens.

3. Potatoes and sweet potatoes:

Potatoes and sweet potatoes are unique vegetables. They are found under the soil, so they must be roots, right? What if I told you that it isn’t possible to grow new plants from roots? Can you grow new plants from potatoes or sweet potatoes? Stick some toothpicks into the middle of a sweet potato and suspend it root down into a glass of water. Keep the water level up by adding water as needed. Look for new growth. If the potatoes grow new plants, can they be true roots?

Place some potato peels brown side up in some damp soil. Look for the potato eyes. Do peels without eyes grow a new plant?

4. Avocado Pits:

You can either put toothpicks in the sides of an avocado pit about half way down, all around the middle and suspend it in water (broad side down), or you may plant half way into moist soil (again broad side down). Can you grow an avocado pit? What part of the plant is it?

5. Sprouts:

Do you have some leftover sprouts of the kind you put on your salad or sandwich? Can you grow sprouts in soil? We did this once because we didn’t know what kind of plant the sprouts were that we were eating. We found out they were broccoli sprouts.

6. Lettuce, Chard, Spinach, Cabbage:

Can you grow new plants from leaves, like lettuce? Give it a try and see. Place a leaf cut side down into moist soil. What happens?

Check the Kitchen Scraps Results section for the possible results of these experiments.