Stephanie emailed in the following tip:
Did you know that instead of throwing out the stems of romaine lettuce or celery you can re-plant them?
Just cut the ends off of the plants (about two inches from the base), put in a shallow dish of water, and let them sit for a day or two.
Then plant the pieces in the vegetable garden with the stalk side up and water thoroughly. You could also plant them in any container filled with dirt if you don’t have a garden, just make sure they get plenty of sun.
Once you have them growing, you can cut off your new lettuce/celery on an “as needed” basis.
What a great way to save yourself some money at the grocery store! -Stephanie
I was wondering what to do with all those unused pots in my shed. Lots of fun to do with my grandchildren. Thank you for the post.
That’s awesome! Now I’m glad I didn’t spend three dollars a piece on sickly looking lettuce starts!
Never heard of doing the celery or lettuce- good to know! but we do save some of our bean seeds (just leave the last batch on the plants till fall, when they get overgrown then dry out), and the kids go out and collect all the seeds. The beans we planted this year are doing great, and they are from our plants last year, that we also started from seeds from the year before.
How funny. I actually replanted the end of my celery this afternoon before reading this post. 🙂
I seed save from year to year to save on buying seeds each year. I left some carrots in to winter over last year and now they will be going to seed soon. This is my first try at seed saving carrots but I have done it sucessfully with beans, peas, potatoes, peppers and tomatoes.
I will have to give the lettuce and celery a try.
Would iceberg lettuce work?
I’m pretty sure you need a loose leaf as opposed to a head lettuce but would it hurt to try?
How big of a pot do you need to use for celery? Does it need to be very deep?
A one gallon pot would be plenty big. Old milk jug with holes punched in bottom for drainage even. They grow up not out. I’m not sure what stores sell but if they are self blanching your good to go. I’m on my third year with seed grown self blanching celery. 4 plants in a medium pot with nasturtiums mixed in. Just cut the outer stalks off as needed.
Will salad greens regrow if left in the dirt? We always start with perfect plants but something in our yard ends up eating the leaves. I have left the plants in the pot so maybe it will come back out? That would be great – I’ll net them next time!!
Great idea to try!! I’ve read that honey will act as a root stimulator for roses. I put some honey on a rose plant’s roots I transplanted & it’s doing great. I also used honey on zucchini plant roots when I planted them. My zucchini plants look awesome.
This works for scallions, too.
Great tip! We do this with our green onions and I wrote about it here –> http://www.elisephotini.com/grow-green-onions-windowsill-star-diy-project/ I had no idea about trying it with celery or lettuce ends…will get right on that!
I agree. We do this with our green onions too; my friends all have to try it after they see it. I am looking forward to reading everyone else’s ideas.
In some parts of the country, you can overwinter tomato plants. They look terrible for awhile, but mine were going strong by March. FYI, we are zone 13.
Here’s my post where I show how I do mine!
http://savvystudentshopper.com/blog/2012/05/22/regrowing-your-produce-free-easy/
Great idea! Here is a YouTube clip demonstrating the process: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG5grykNhGI
This sounds pretty easy but step by step photos would help a lot!
Please and Thank You!!
Saving seeds is very tough when it comes to Cole Crops, However as stated if you soak the Celery or Base of the Rommaine and plant it in some good soil it should grow.
Wow, that’s cool! How long does it take to re-grow?
Also, any ideas on how to save on seeds each year?
As in how to save your seeds until next year? http://www.care2.com/greenliving/save-your-seeds-how-to-directions.html
I do this with onions, celery, romaine, cabbage & more!
The cabbage has given me the best results. I love it!
Can you do a post as to how exactly? That would help a lot. This sounds so fascinating. I have been gardening for a while but I had no idea you could do that.
Here it is:
http://savvystudentshopper.com/blog/2012/05/22/regrowing-your-produce-free-easy/
🙂
Do you do this with the whole bottom of the romaine head or just the leaf? I want to try this.
I’ve never tried the celery/lettuce thing, but I’ve done enough gardening that it seems like it should work. I have to wonder if they’ve been out of the ground long enough to kill the “root base”? Perhaps if it didn’t work dipping the end in some root stimulator would help. I think some of it might also depend on the variety and whether or not it was organic (many companies will put a root stopping chemical on veggies to stop people from doing just this).
My husband and I DID recently plant some sprouting potatoes we got at the store. That was a bunch of fun! I keep thinking I’ll try re-growing our veggies when we move to our permanent home and set up a decent garden! Sure would save on seeds/starters!
Scallions purchased from the grocery store will grow even after they have been sitting around on the grocery shelf.
I would not depend on sprouting potatoes for amain crop. It is the policy of many growers to spray potatoes with a sprout suppressing enzyme that won’t stop sprouting entirely but will stunt the sprouts if they get too long. If you plant sprayed potatoes, you will not know until late in the season if the stems will be stunted or not. Also. potatoes are very prone to diseases that can spread in your garden, so if you are growing potatoes, it is best to buy certified disease-free spuds.
We did this with onions last year! It worked pretty well. I forgot about trying to do it this year, so thanks for the reminder!
How? You just plant the root end? Plz help.
Just like the lettuce, put the root end in a shallow dish of water. The plant will begin to grow and the roots to sprout. I put the new onion plant in the ground once it’s about 4 to 6 inches tall.
This method yields green onions (the tops).