Not all garden scraps are scraps

A few years ago I became a fan of Pinterest. Back in the day, before it was taken over by advertisers, it was a gold mine of a full range of ideas from cooking to crafts to gardening. It became my habit to browse in the wee hours of the morning, before dawn, with a cup of coffee at the ready. One of the gardening ideas I came across was regrowing celery.

The method is pretty easy. Buy a stalk of celery and use it, saving about three inches of the root. Then set the root in a small bowl of water, using toothpicks if necessary to keep the root upright. Every other day, change out the water to keep it fresh. I proceeded to do that and in about two weeks, I had roots forming. It was time to plant the root in dirt. 

I didn't do anything fancy. I got a flower pot that had potting soil in it, dug a hole about an inch deep, and plopped the root in and backfilled. Since the roots were used to growing in water, I made sure to keep the dirt moist. In a matter of days, ribs began to grow. 

So far, I've harvested a few ribs for use in cooking. I sampled for taste and found it to be a little stronger flavor than the original stalk, but that's okay. It simply means I'll use less in cooking. 

I now have two plants growing and it's time to move them out of the flower pots and into a grow bag for better tending. The plants themselves are very attractive, but I need to tie up the ribs so they grow better. 

Since the experiment with celery worked, I visited YouTube and have discovered there are a lot more "scraps" you can replant. Onions, spring onions, garlic, ginger, romaine lettuce, leeks, beets for the greens, carrots for the greens, cabbage, some herbs, and potatoes and sweet potatoes. I have several sprouted potatoes at the moment, so I'm going to plant them today. I don't expect to get a real harvest, just test the theory. 

All of this is prepping for my retirement years and is an enjoyable hobby now. The manor is my own piece of Eden. How much better it will be when I'm able to enjoy the dawn in my garden every day.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor