Gardening from your food cupboards

Mrs Masters has put together some fabulous activities that you could try at home. 

This celery has been in the glass container with wet paper towels for two weeks. We have harvested the big stems. Little roots are starting to grow so it can be planted in a pot or the garden to keep growing.  

“Observe” sprouting kumara and  potatoes in the pantry.. don’t throw them out, grow them. Plant potatoes in a big pot or in the garden. 

Kumara can be grown inside in a jar with a little water or planted as a pot plant. Vines of green leaves will festoon your house and give you leaves to add to stirfrys. 

The vine shoots can be carefully snipped away from the kumara in late spring to grow a crop of kumara tubers in a sunny part of your garden. 

Another food cupboard growing experiment to “observe”.. 

cut about a quarter from the bottom (root end) of an onion while you are cooking. Save it and put over a small jar etc of water so the old roots are just touching it. When the roots start to grow or you see the green shoot coming out on the onion rings you know your onion is starting to regrow. These ones in my kitchen have been sitting over water for 4 days. Plant in a pot or the garden and let’s see what we get. My red onion has new roots and the brown onions have the little shoots so they are getting planted today.  I have never done this before, so I’m waiting to see what happens. Try more than one onion and don’t leave them for too long in the water as rotten onions are disgusting!

 Shallots, spring onions and garlic can be grown from extras in your kitchen. Leave the shallots and garlic (only use New Zealand grown - not imported garlic) on some damp kitchen paper till roots start to grow from the blunt end. Then plant with the pointy end pointing up and just covered in a pot or your garden.

 Spring onions can be used from the green leaves down to about 6 cm of the white and then put the white part with the root end in water or plant in the garden and they will regrow then you can just trim the tops off when you need some. 

Saving seeds from old beans harvested before we left school. These will be stored for next summer. Observe and collect seeds in your garden ; leave them to dry and then put them in jars of paper packets.. label them and we can have a seed sharing time when we get back to school. 

 Try growing some sprouts or micro greens. These are two types of whole dried lentils on the left with mung beans at the back that my family are growing to add to stirfrys, salads and a sprouted lentil dhal. 

Check online for seeds that you can experiment with straight from the supermarket now. 

Sunflower seeds are another one to soak and rinse twice a day and then nibble on or add to salads. 

Because the seeds are starting to grow their nutrients are easier for us to digest  and more valuable as food. 

Last one to experiment with .. carrot tops for all the hens, rabbits and guinea pigs. When you are cooking up some soup, carrot cake or just chomping save 4 cm or so of the top of the carrot. Then put into an egg cup or dish on damp kitchen paper and put on your window sill. The leaves will start to grow up again and your bubble friends will have a nice fresh salad! 

Make sure to keep us updated with your GTT experiences at home via email!