Most of our kitchen scraps can be regrown! All you need are vegetable trimmings, peels, and roots, and containers with water. Beet and carrot tops, which you can only buy in vegan stores, can be grown for free on your windowsill. You can regrow greens from almost anything: onions, garlic, lettuce, celery, fennel, napa cabbage, beets, and carrots—just to name a few.
Carrot Greens from Kitchen Scraps
Carrot Greens from Scraps
Carrot greens can regrow within a week from cut carrot tops. Simply place them in water and put them on a sunny windowsill. Change the water every 3-4 days to prevent rot. If you have sand, placing the tops on damp sand is ideal. Keep the sand consistently moist.
Carrot greens are tasty and nutritious, with as much carotene and potassium as the root, plus they’re pure fiber. You can add them to salads and soups. Fresh greens might have a slight bitterness, but not more than arugula.
Beet Greens from Scraps
Beet Greens from Kitchen Waste
Beet greens can be grown in the same way as carrot greens—by placing them in water or damp sand. As the stems grow, trim them and they will regrow repeatedly.
Beet greens are much tastier than any green salad. They are rich in iodine, vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Eat them in salads, sandwiches, or make beet green soup and borscht. Highly recommended!
Lettuce Greens from Stems
Lettuce Greens from Stems
Lettuce greens regrow extremely quickly from the stems we usually cut and discard. After cutting the leaves, place the stem in water—the greens will appear the next day. Continue cutting leaves, and the stems will keep producing greens.
Celery Greens from Stems
Celery Greens from Stems
Celery is a very useful green, at least for my family. One stalk is enough for a pot of soup with a pleasant aroma. It grows quickly and is quite decorative. Grow celery greens in a cup of water or damp sand.
Celery is unique for its mineral content and benefits. It helps with insomnia, vitamin deficiencies, and nervous exhaustion. It controls blood sugar levels and has negative calorie content, making it helpful for weight loss.
Green Onions from Roots and Stems
Green Onions from Roots
Green Onions from Stems
We’re used to growing green onions from bulbs that start sprouting in the spring and smell. I don’t miss those days when every windowsill was cluttered with jars of rotting onions and their smell… I can’t believe I didn’t think of growing greens from the roots earlier. No smell, efficient, and simple.
Garlic Greens from Cloves
Garlic Greens from Cloves
You can grow tender garlic greens from sprouted and withered garlic cloves. Garlic also thrives in a pot with moist sawdust or sand. It doesn’t grow as quickly as onions, but the greens last longer.
Regrowing is a rewarding activity. It’s not burdensome, doesn’t require expenses, and children enjoy it too. Your windowsills will be adorned with fresh greens and vibrant colors all year round.
