Foods you can Plant from Buying Produce
With the sun finally come back to us and Spring is approaching, many people flock to their yards to start working on their gardens. However, in an apartment, there isn’t much of a yard to garden, but there are ways to get creative! Plants can grow on windowsills, porches, by your porch door, and anywhere that gets some sunlight during the day. There is even plants that can grow food right in your house, even without buying seeds. We know a lot of your plants waste is just going into the garbage, so why not trying to put some vegetable and fruit clippings into a pot of dirt to see if it’ll grow? Here are a few veggies that you can buy at the grocery store and have a change of growing a plant at home.
Bell Peppers
This one is a great one to state with, because you get so many seeds from a bell pepper, one of them is bound to grow! Place each seed in an egg carton slot with a scoop of soil and water regularly to keep the soil from drying up. After a few weeks pick out the best growing ones and move to a larger pot. Give the plant time in front of an open window so the wind can begin to strengthen then stalk as if a pepper starts growing it can break the plant. Fruit can start growing on the plants within the first year, but it’s possible it might take a second season before it grows a plant. Thankfully Peppers are self-pollinating, so you only need one plant to make it work.
Green Onions, Lettuce & Celery
All three of these plants work in the same way. Take the bottom of the plant (once you’ve eaten all the good stuff) and place it in a bowl with water. You made need to raise the root off the bottom of the bowl using toothpicks or something similar to maximize the access to water. Get the bowl into a place with as much sunlight as possible, and keep the water topped up. If you start to see root and plant growth, then hooray! Enjoy. You can attempt to pot the plant after there is growth, but make sure to maintain the water and sunlight!
Bonus: Avocados
You can also do this with an avocado seed. Use toothpicks to suspend half of the seed in water. You may need to try a few times, but it is possible. However, if you do want to eat a home grown avocado, prepare to do research and to care of the plant for the long term. It may take up to seven years for the seed to start producing fruit.
Potatoes and Garlic
Did your potatoes start sprouting before you were able to make it to the bottom of that ten-pound bag? No worries, cut the potato up into quarters and bury the potato in a pot, about 4 inches from the top. Make sure the pot is big enough to hold actual potatoes, as if they start growing, they are going to fill up the space. This also works for garlic, just with a less commitment to space.
Try Anything
The best part about experimenting with food scraps is that is doesn’t cost anything extra, besides the pots and soil, and that if it doesn’t succeed, you’ll always have more seeds to try again. We’d love to hear if any of these tips helped you get a living plant in your apartment, or, if you’ve experimented with other seeds and have seen success. We want everyone to be living their best and healthiest lives here at Premium Rentals. There are tons of free resources online for growing food indoors, and we encourage everyone to give it a try.
