Living
in a city, you may think that gardening is not a do-able activity outside of a
couple annuals planted around your
steps. Actually, there are whole books, blogs, websites, etc. dedicated to
gardening in small places and big cities. We’re going to focus on food-related
gardening in this blog, but if you come to our Spring workshop on April 20th,
we will be discussing more gardening!
First,
let’s focus on growing inside your home. Did you know that you can actually
re-grow food from scraps that you normally throw away? I’ve actually done this!
I took the root part of the head of romaine lettuce that I normally throw out,
kept it wet and in a shallow dish of water on my window sill, and the lettuce
started growing new leaves! You can also do this with celery, which I’ve heard
people have much more success with. Many people plant these outside, or in a
pot/coffee can of soil to give the roots a place to grow after they’ve spent a
couple weeks in the shallow dish of water. With romaine, this will only work a
few times with the same root and then a hard shoot will come up and you won’t
want to eat the bitter leaves that form. Bok choy and cabbage will also grow in
this manner.
You can continue
to grow scallions, leeks, spring onions, and fennel from a cup of water in a
sunny window. The green part of the veggies will grow, and you can cut what you
need. These can grow like this for a very long time (possibly indefinitely,
you’ll have to let me know).
If you’re a fan of
ginger in your dishes, it is very easy to re-grow. Put a piece of the thick,
knobbly bit you cook with in potting soil with the newest buds facing upward.
Keep it moist and out of direct sunlight. Pull it up when the shoots and roots
are established, harvest what you need and then re-plant!
Potatoes grow in a
similar way to ginger. If a potato has “eyes” growing, you can re-grow potatoes
from it! Cut it in to two inch square pieces, making sure each piece has at
least one or two eyes. Let the pieces sit out at room temperature so the cut
pieces dry and callus over. This will keep the potato from rotting after you
plant it. If you can, try to create a nutrient rich soil (compost works) before
you plant them. Plant your potato pieces eight inches deep, eye facing up and
cover it with four inches of soil, leaving four inches empty. As more roots
appear, add more soil. You can do this with sweet potatoes as well, but leave
12 inches between plants and make sure they are in a moist and sunny location.
Garlic is
delicious (and super heart healthy) so it makes a great thing to grow at home.
Take a single clove of garlic and plant it root end down, in direct sunlight.
That’s it! The garlic will root itself and produce new shoots. Cut back the
shoots and the plant will produce a garlic bulb. Similarly to ginger, you can
repeat the process with your new bulb to have several plants. Bonus tip, garlic
grows well in winter-y environments, making it an ideal plant in WNY.
Onions are also an easy
vegetable to re-grow at home. Cut of the root end of the onion, leaving about a
½ inch of onion. Place it in a sunny position and cover the top with soil. Keep
the soil moist. Because onions prefer warm environments, they are ideal for
pots inside. You can keep re-planting the root ends you cut off, just like
garlic and ginger.
When most people
think about gardening inside, they think about herb gardens. Fresh herbs are
delicious and can be very expensive to buy. With a little soil, seeds, and
care, you can grow them at home and save a lot of money, while getting to look like
your dishes are from the Food Network. Of course, you don’t have to grow from
seeds. Many grocery stores sell herbs already potted or perhaps you know a
friend that can give you some clippings to re-plant. In the links below, you
can find some great tips to keep you from making mistakes while creating your
beautiful herb assortment.
In the links
below, you’ll find 66 things you can grow in a container. Some are repeats from
above, but most are other things that you won’t believe! Don’t forget, our Spring
workshop is coming up on April 20th, from 11-3. We will be going
over some things to get you in the spring mood and have a guest speaker come in
from Home Depot to demonstrate making window planter boxes. Space is limited,
so you must call to pre-register!
Helpful Links:
SproutRobot
– What to grow and when based on your zipcode!
Beyond
the Spray – Tips for gardening without pesticides
