Did you know there are vegetables you can grow from scraps? Growing vegetables from scraps is a wonderful way to start a budget garden in your backyard or balcony. It’ll also save you grocery money in the long run and provide you with fresh, healthy greens.
The best part is you can show off your green thumb to your friends and family with fresh food! Growing veggies from scraps is an easy and inexpensive way to get into gardening.
I’ve listed several vegetables that regrow from cuttings below to help you get started!
I may earn a small commission for purchases made through links in this post at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting Frugal Home Addict! Learn more about my disclaimer policy here.
Vegetables You Can Grow From Scraps
- Potatoes
- Ginger
- Garlic
- Carrots (Carrot Greens)
- Bean Sprouts
- Bok Choi
- Tomatoes
- Lettuce
- Basil
- Beets (Beet Greens)
- Green Onion
- Celery
1. Growing Potatoes From Scraps
Potatoes are one of the few vegetables you can grow from scraps. To regrow, select a potato that already has multiple tubers (little stems that grow out of potatoes). Potatoes naturally grow out tubers over time. If you don’t already have a potato with them, you can wait until tubers form.
To prep for planting, cut sections into the potato where tubers are formed. You want to divide up the tubers for planting. Dry up these potato pieces with a paper towel or let them naturally dry out in a few hours.
When growing potatoes from scraps, disperse the potato sections under soil with the tubers facing up. Make sure the soil is always wet. Small potato plants should sprout in a few days. On average, full sized potatoes take about 3 months to be ready for harvest. Depending on the type of potato, your potato plants can have different maturation times, so I would check to be sure.
2. Growing Ginger From Scraps
Ginger is a wonderful vegetable to add some unique spice and flavor to any meal. Ginger can elevate any fried rice recipe. In a grocery store, ginger can be expensive. If you love ginger and are looking to save some money, I recommend planting your own ginger at home! Ginger are plants that regrow from cuttings.
To get started, select ginger with shiny and tight skin. You’ll want to select a healthy root for planting. Allow your ginger root to rest on your counter for a few weeks until stems start to grow from it.
To prep for planting, cut the ginger root into chunks around the stems. Dry out the sections with a paper towel or let it dry naturally by resting it for a few hours. To plant, place the ginger piece under a small layer of soil. You’ll want the stem to still be visible.
To care for your new vegetable, make sure the soil is always moist. When growing ginger from scraps, it takes 10 months for it to reach full maturity (however, you can start to harvest around 4 months).
3. Growing Garlic From Scraps
Garlic is notorious for causing bad breath. However, it’s totally worth it! Garlic is a delicious ingredient on bread and pastas. Yum! Luckily for us, garlic is one of the easiest vegetables you can grow from scraps.
When growing from scraps, place a clove into a container with shallow water for a day. The clove will sprout a small shoot. To plant the garlic, cover the clove with soil, allowing the shoot to be visible. Water your garlic plant every 3 to 5 days.
It takes about 9 months for the garlic to fully mature. You’ll know your garlic is ready to harvest when your plant’s leaves start to turn yellow.
4. Growing Carrots From Scraps (Carrot Greens)
Did you know that carrot plants are vegetables that regrow from cuttings of carrot tops? As a child, I remember conducting a “science experiment” by placing a carrot top in a shallow container of water and watching the plant sprout in a few days.
Unfortunately, you cannot grow full carrots from carrot tops. You can, however, make carrot greens from them! Carrot greens are the green parts that come from the top of carrot. They are rich in nutrients and can be used to garnish soaps and make into pesto.
The best part of carrot tops is that they grow quickly and are easy to plant. These makes carrot tops a great “first plant” for young gardeners.
When growing carrot tops from scraps, cut off the top of a carrot. Place the carrot top facing up on a small bowl filled with shallow water. The water should not submerge the entire carrot top. To care, make sure the carrot top is always touching water to avoid drying it out. That’s all you need to do! The carrot greens should start growing in a few days.
5. Growing Bean Sprouts From Scraps
Bean sprouts are delicious in stir fries. Healthy-wise, bean sprouts can improve heart health, and ofter multiple vitamins and minerals. Growing bean sprouts from scraps at home is super easy and don’t require any soil. You can grow bean sprouts with mung beans or lentils.
Did you know you can grow bean sprouts in mason jars? There are multiple methods to growing your own bean sprouts, but I recommend trying out this method. To grow bean sprouts in a mason jar, first rinse the beans. Add water into your mason jar, soak the beans for 12 hours, and make a mesh lid by placing the outer lid over a cheese cloth (this will help drain the water without losing the seeds).
Drain the mason jar through the cheese cloth once beans are done soaking. You are done! Depending on the seed, bean sprouts can grow in about 3 days. If your seeds dry out before the bean sprouts are completed, you can add more water into the mason jar and drain.
6. Growing Bok Choy From Scraps
Bok choy is used in many Chinese dishes and is one of the few vegetables you can grow from scraps. It contains a high amount of nutrients making bok choy a wonderful superfood! I recommend growing bok choy from scraps because it is relatively expensive compared to other vegetables at your local grocery store.
You can regrow bok choy from the stalk! To prep, cut off the base (around 2 inches) off the bok choy. Add a shallow amount of water into a container and place the stalk inside. Make sure the stalk is not fully submerged. Add more water as the water levels drop.
After a few days or weeks, the vegetable should start growing roots and new leaves. At this point, you can choose to keep the plant in the container or plant it in soil. The bok choy will mature in about 2 months, but you can harvest the leaves as soon as they grow out.
7. Growing Tomatoes From Scraps
Tomatoes come in all sizes, colors, and flavors. Select a tomato of your choice to grow! I recommend planting cherry tomatoes if you don’t have a lot of space at home. They make delicious, healthy, and sweet snacks!
Tomatoes are plants that regrow from cuttings. To regrow tomatoes, cut a tomato into slices. Place the slices on top of the soil and lightly cover with soil. To care, keep the soil moist. The tomato seeds should start sprouting within a week.
When this happens, you can replant the sprouts in other containers to give the plants more space to grow. When growing tomatoes from scraps, It takes about a month for tomato plants to mature and another month for them to start producing fruit.
8. Growing Basil From Scraps
Basil is a staple herb to have in your garden. Many foods pair well with basil and it works wonderfully in Italian dishes. Did you know that basil herbs are plants that regrow from cuttings?
Basil herbs need sunlight to thrive, so make sure you have spot inside or outside your home that gets plenty of sunlight.
When growing basil from scraps, get a basil plant (you can get fresh basil from a grocery store). Use scissors to cut 5 inch stems from the plant. Place the stems into glasses of water and make sure they aren’t completely submerged.
Keep the basil stems in the water for about 1 week and change the water as needed. You’ll start to see roots forming from the stems. When the roots appear, you can start planting the basil plants in soil. To plant in soil, cover the lower part of the basil plant firmly with soil. You’ll want the plant to stand up upright.
To care for your new basil plants, keep the soil moist. Congrats! You now have an endless supply of basil for all your cooking needs!
9. Growing Beets From Scraps (Beet Greens)
Did you know that beets are used to improve athletic performance! Beets are packed with nutrients and can help lower blood pressure. You can make pickled beets, and add beets into sandwiches and salads.
Beet greens come from the tops of beets. These are amazing vegetables you can grow from scraps of beets. Beet greens are high in antioxidants and nutrients, and are rich in vitamin A and vitamin C. You can turn beet greens into pesto or sautรฉ them up into a quick healthy side dish. The method listed below is how to produce beet greens!
When growing beet greens from scraps, purchase beets with the tops still attached. Remove the greens. Cut off the top section of the beets and place them (cut section down) in a shallow container of water. Make sure that the beets are not submerged completely in water. Your beet greens will start growing in a week.
10. Growing Green Onion From Scraps
Green onion (or scallion) is incredibly easy to grow at home! Green onion is a wonderful garnish to any meal. You can place slices of green onion on eggs, soaps, salads, and rice. I enjoy adding green onions on top of scrambled eggs.
Instead of throwing out green onion scraps, save money and replant them! Green onions are vegetables that regrow from cuttings. Cut off the ends of the bulbs which contain the roots. In a mason jar, add a shallow amount of water and place in the bulbs with the roots facing down. You can tie the bulbs together if they have a hard time keeping upright. Make sure the top parts of the bulb are not completely submerged in water.
To care for your green onions, all you need to do is make sure the mason jar contains water so the plants don’t dry out. Change out the water as needed. In about a week, you’ll start to see new shoots growing green onion from scraps!
You can keep the green onions in water or replant them in soil (replanting them will keep them living longer). Now you have your own green onion garden! Snip off the green onions when you need them and they will regrow!
11. Growing Celery From Scraps
Do you already have celery in your diet? If not, you should consider adding it into your next meal. Celery contains multiple vitamins and minerals that promote your immune system and overall health.
In moderate quantities, drinking celery as a juice will help prevent cancer and heart disease. Although I probably won’t commit to drinking celery juice everyday, I agree that celery can be beneficial health-wise.
Celery are one of the few vegetables you can grow from scraps. When growing celery from scraps, cut off the lower parts of the stalk that contain the roots. Place the celery slice into a shallow container of water. I recommend adding toothpicks into the celery so it can hang onto the edges of the container without touching the bottom of the water. The celery piece should not be completely submerged in water.
To care for your celery plant, make sure that the root end always touches the water. Add and change the water as needed.
In a week, the celery plant should be ready to be replanted in soil. It should have roots and tiny stalks growing from it. Place the plant on soil and gently cover up the roots, leaving the stalks above soil. It takes about 4 months for celery to grow to full maturity. Congrats! You just grew a celery plant!
Conclusion: Growing Vegetables From Scraps
Growing vegetables from scraps is an excellent way to save money on produce. It is also an easy way to start your garden without buying seeds! To save money, I highly recommend growing veggies from scraps at home.
I hope this post gave you helpful information on vegetables you can grow from scraps. Let me know what plants you are planning to regrow! How did they go?