Kitchen Scrap Gardening

I have been reading a lot about kitchen scrap gardening. I checked this book out on Libby (my online library app) and I was intrigued. I can say with absolute confidence that I DO NOT have a green thumb, but I was able to find a few projects that I think I might be able to do.  I'll update my progress as I go. I'm sure some things will be a flop but others will do well. In fact, my oldest daughter has already had a little success with growing some lettuce. All she did was put the base of a head of Romain in the ground and a few days later it had leaves already sprouting. She also planted some carrot tops, and while we may not really get a crop of carrots out of it, they have already started to sprout some greens. My next project is going to be to try and get some herbs going from the fresh herbs I bought at the grocery store. I don't want to go to the hardware store to buy seedlings  and the basil my daughter planted never sprouted, so I'll see how it goes trying to propagate them from cuttings. Right now I have basil, mint, cilantro and dill cuttings. I might ask around on the neighborhood Facebook page for some more cuttings.

Potatoes

                                                         

Here are the potatoes we started. I found that some of my potatoes had formed buds so my daughter cut them and we let them dry for a few days. I planted them in a recycle bin in a sunny spot and watered them. I left just a little of the sprouted part sticking out. From what I've read I just need to add dirt as the plant grows to give the potatoes room to grow. I'm not sure that we will get much out of it, but they were just going to go in the trash anyway so why not put them to good use in the yard, If nothing else they will add some organic matter to the soil. I have another recycle bin as well next time I have to go to the grocery store I might try to purchase some potting soil so I can get something else going.  Any suggestions? (leave a comment if you do)

Celery and lettuce

I also planted some lettuce and celery in pots. Many of the instructions I've read say to start them in water, but the lettuce that my daughter started in her garden worked great without propagating it in water first. We shall see what happens. I am not too worried about it. I didn't purchase anything to make this garden. All I did was reuse things that I already had lying around.

Lettuce

My daughter just put the bottom of some lettuce in the ground less than a week ago and it is already starting to grow leaves.  She planted a few carrot tops as well.  They have nice cute little plants growing out of the top.


It has been nice doing a few little projects around the garden. I have never been successful at it in the past, but with kitchen scrap gardening I know that the only thing that I'm putting into it is time... and I have a lot of that right now... so what can I lose.




So far I have planted potatoes, carrot tops, lettuce, celery, and green onions.  I plan to work on propagating herbs,  and planting some ginger and garlic.  If you have any easy ideas on things to plant that are easy and cheap then let me know in the comments.