The vegetable bowl experiment:
**Disclaimer**: I have no idea what I am doing!!!
I'm just going with my gut and hoping for the best.
Last week I found this large onion growing in my veggie bowl. (Oh I see those looks! Are you going to tell me that's never happened to you???) It looked so healthy I couldn't throw it away. I should have looked on the Internet but I went with my instincts and tried to root it.I was amazed that after sitting in the water for a day roots began to grow! This is after 4 days of being in the water. What do I do next??? I have no idea to be honest. I don't know what kind of onion it is (is Shaw's Yellow a good variety??) I'll give it a few more rooting days then I'll plant it in a bucket until it's a little warmer outside. If anyone has a better idea let me know!!
In the same sad veggie bowl were a couple of potatoes with eyes. They were pretty much beyond the point of safe consumption so I decided to stick those in water too. I feel like I've seen this before, but they were cut in half.... do you know why they were cut? These shoots have grown since being in the water. There are also little hairy roots growing.This isn't the first the first thing that's gone bad that I've tried to rescue. With my frugality (and ah humm... laziness) I am beginning to understand how beef jerky, sundried tomatoes, and raisins were created. I'm learning that the middle process might be unsightly and seem gross (like leaving wilted parsley in my crisper drawer for a few months) but the end result is again surprisingly edible (voila, I now have dried parsley!)
I am enjoying this. Not sure if I'll get more potatoes and onions out of it but won't it be amazing if I do?! If not, It all goes into the compost pile... where someone else probably would have put it in the beginning.
I challenge you, what can you rescue from your garbage today???
7 comments:
I had to share that I am actually contemplating growing a garden this year! AHHH! Got to start reading gardening for dummies!
Wish me luck!
Good Luck!!! It's my second year and I still need gardening for dummies :) Next Monday I'm sharing my big plans... stay tuned!
Honestly, I'd never even considered trying to root my onions and potatoes! What an interesting idea! I'm really looking forward to further "research". lol
I'm growing my first garden this year too! Got the book Square Foot Gardening... could not put it down! Great book for a beginning gardener!
Ok, I'll take you up on your challenge. What can I rescue from the dark depths of my fridge? How long does it take a half eaten carton of Ben & Jerry's to root?
Hmmm what else... now why did someone put a bowl of Ramen Noodles in the fridge, $.15 people. If you can't finish 'em, throw 'em out. I don't think they grow very well in Maine anyway. Southern crop, definitely.
Smiles
Lisa
PS: Love your blog!
LOL, Thanks for the laugh Lisa!!! Glad you like my blog :)
The onion will go to seed. It will have a pretty flower. I let a couple of mine go to seed (in the greenhouse though, not quite so interesting) and have onions growing now. You can sprout the potatoes in light in a cool room for best results. Then cut the potatoes into pieces, at least one eye per piece. Let them dry for a couple of days and plant when the soil is ready. Pull soil over the plants two or three times until there's a big hill of dirt over the pieces. You can completely cover the plants, they'll pop through the soil and continue to grow. Simple as pie! I wish I had a pie in my fridge to sprout. It would go well with Lisa's ice cream.
Thank you Robin!!! I really needed the info :)
Yum... I'll grow icecream and pie... that's really my kind of garden
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