London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Sep 12, 2025

Grow Leftover Veggies and Food Scraps Again - Right In Your Kitchen

Grow Leftover Veggies and Food Scraps Again - Right In Your Kitchen

The ultimate guide to “grocery store propagation.”

We’re all about eliminating waste—and learning new ways to garden. That’s why we were thrilled to read Amy Pennington‘s new book, Tiny Space Gardening: Growing Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs in Small Outdoor Spaces.

In the excerpt below, Seattle-based urban farmer offers a step-by-step guide for growing your own food scraps. Seriously, did you know your leftover onions, herbs, and celery can grow again? Here are Pennington’s tips salvaging all different types of produce.

Once you’ve gotten the hang of it, grab a copy of Tiny Space Gardening to discover even more tips and recipes for growing your own food—no matter the size of your space.

Extending the life of any vegetable is the ultimate nod toward living sustainably and with environmental consciousness, so why not continue benefiting from food you purchased or grew? Get the most out of all vegetables before sending them to the compost bin by cultivating a food scrap garden on your windowsill or countertop.

Plants grow. They are living things and will continue to grow roots and sprouts even after harvest. We’ve all seen this when a potato left too long in our pantry sprouts, or the garlic cloves send up green shoots. Most plants will continue to grow even without soil, needing only water, sunlight, and eventually food to continue producing. This works particularly well for anything with a leafy green that we can harvest.


Leaves grow from the center out and will put on growth slowly, so don’t expect to get great harvests from this foray into growing from scraps. It’s a fun project that ensures you’ll always have something fresh at hand, and a great way to involve kids in urban agriculture and nutrition.

The process is pretty straightforward and simple. The basic how-to involves setting the root end of a vegetable in a shallow bowl of water and placing it in a sunny spot—a windowsill that receives direct sun is the perfect setting. You can use a tall water glass, a shallow baking pan, or any receptacle in which the vegetable can stand in a shallow pool of water. Standing water is a hospitable atmosphere for bacteria and encourages decomposition, so be sure to change out the water and clean the dish regularly—once every two to three days, at least.

I suggest starting with a locally grown, organic vegetable because these are typically cultivated as a field crop in healthy soils and spend less time in transport, making them a healthier choice all around.


Celery and Bok Choy


Trim the edible portions from a head of celery or bok choy, cutting 2 inches above the root end. If the cut root end of the plant is soft and browned, slice off a very thin layer. Set the root base in a tall glass and fill with enough water so the bottom ¼ to ½ inch of root is submerged.


Herbs


Many tender herbs will develop root systems from the stem if planted into soil as a cutting or left in a shallow glass of water. (Many flowering plants will do this—zinnia, lilac, and geranium, to name a few.) Try mint and basil. (Note: cilantro and parsley are exceptions; they do not root and grow from cuttings.) To grow, cut just below a set of leaves and then remove the lower leaves. Woody herbs, like rosemary, are a bit trickier—use a fresh cutting from new growth, but they won’t quickly develop new leaf sets for harvesting.


Lettuce


Choose a non-heading lettuce for this project; crispheads like iceberg lettuces do not work well. As with celery, trim the bulk of the leaves from the stem, leaving behind about 2 inches on the root end of the plant. If the root end of the plant is soft and browned, slice off a very thin layer. Set the root base in a tall glass and fill with enough water so the last ¼ to ½ inch of root is submerged, and place in a sunny spot.


Green Onions/Scallions


Trim the edible, green portion from the tall onions, leaving behind about 2 inches of stem on the root end of the plant. Set the root base in a tall glass and fill with enough water so the last ¼ to ½ inch of root is submerged. The green tops will regrow for several weeks (don’t forget to change the water!), and you can continue cutting them and regrowing them until production slows.


Tubers: Potatoes, Ginger, Turmeric


The edible parts of these plants are grown underground as a tuber. A quick note on growing these plants from scraps. Can you do it? Sort of. You just use a piece of the food as a starting point for a new plant. To give this a try, cut pieces from the tuber and float them in a shallow pool of water until they develop root systems; then you can plant them deeply in soil.


Mushrooms


Yes, you can grow your own mushrooms, on a countertop or outdoors. In recent years, mushroom growers have started offering grow-your-own mushroom kits, making it easy to grow delicious fungi at home. Any kit you purchase will have detailed instructions about how to get them started and keep them going through multiple harvests.

Kits are available for common varieties like shiitake and oyster mushrooms and more coveted varieties like lion’s mane and reishi. The kits are shipped with a growing medium and, more often than not, decaying pieces of log that are then inoculated with mushroom spores.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
ChatGPT CEO signals policy to alert authorities over suicidal youth after teen’s death
The British legal mafia hit back: Banksy mural of judge beating protester is scrubbed from London court
Surpassing Musk: Larry Ellison becomes the richest man in the world
Embarrassment for Starmer: He fired the ambassador photographed on Epstein’s 'pedophile island'
Manhunt after 'skilled sniper' shot Charlie Kirk. Footage: Suspect running on rooftop during panic
Effective Protest Results: Nepal’s Prime Minister Resigns as Youth-Led Unrest Shakes the Nation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
King Charles and Prince Harry Share First In-Person Moment in 19 Months
Starmer Establishes Economic ‘Budget Board’ to Centralise Policy and Rebuild Business Trust
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Brazilian police say ex-President Bolsonaro had planned to flee to Argentina seeking asylum
Trinidad Leader Applauds U.S. Naval Strike and Advocates Forceful Action Against Traffickers
Kim Jong Un Oversees Final Test of New High-Thrust Solid-Fuel Rocket Engine
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Supreme Court temporarily allows Trump to pause billions in foreign aid
Charlie Sheen says his father, Martin Sheen, turned him in to the police: 'The greatest betrayal possible'
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
Pig Heads Left Outside Multiple Paris Mosques in Outrage-Inducing Acts
Nvidia’s ‘Wow’ Factor Is Fading. The AI chip giant used to beat Wall Street expectations for earnings by a substantial margin. That trajectory is coming down to earth.
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
On the Anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s Death: Prince Harry Returns to Britain
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Murdoch Family Finalises $3.3 Billion Succession Pact, Ensuring Eldest Son’s Leadership
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Court Staff Cover Up Banksy Image of Judge Beating a Protester
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
Elon Musk Poised to Become First Trillionaire Under Ambitious Tesla Pay Plan
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
Burning the Minister’s House Helped Protesters to Win Justice: Prabowo Fires Finance Minister in Wake of Indonesia Protests
Brazil Braces for Fallout from Bolsonaro Trial by corrupted judge
The Country That Got Too Rich? Public Spending Dominates Norway Election
Nearly 40 Years Later: Nike Changes the Legendary Slogan Just Do It
Generations Born After 1939 Unlikely to Reach Age One Hundred, New Study Finds
End to a four-year manhunt in New Zealand: the father who abducted his children to the forests was killed, the three siblings were found
Germany Suspends Debt Rules, Funnels €500 Billion Toward Military and Proxy War Strategy
EU Prepares for War
BMW Eyes Growth in China with New All‑Electric Neue Klasse Lineup
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
US Justice Department Launches Criminal Mortgage-Fraud Probe into Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook
Escalating Drug Trafficking and Violence in Latin America: A Growing Crisis
US and Taiwanese Defence Officials Held Secret Talks in Alaska
Report: Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission in North Korea Ordered by Trump in 2019 Ended in Failure
×