From Grocery to Garden

I checked my garden yesterday. The snow has completely melted away! To my surprise, I noticed that the garlic was already sending up green shoots. It's wonderful to see a bit of green when everything else is mucky and brown. I was even more surprised to see the green onions I planted last year from cuttings have started to grow back.

A couple years ago, my brother told me I could regrow green onions (scallions) if I saved the roots and placed them in water on a windowsill. The method works really well. Instead of cutting off the root, save the root with about a couple inches of the white part of the stalk. Place the roots in some water, replenishing the water as necessary. The roots will reroot and grow new green onion which you can cut off as needed. These green onions will have a longer shelf (windowsill) life than the kind you keep in the refrigerator because they are alive. The best part is the green onions will grow back in a matter of days and you didn't even have to plant it from seed.

I'm not exactly sure how many times you can successfully keep cutting back the green onions in the jar and expect new growth. The new growth is drawing its nutrients from the stored nutrients in the "bulb" which will eventually be depleted. In any case, you'll be able to tell the fun is over when the growth looks sickly or stops altogether.

Last summer, I took my green onion cuttings and planted them directly into soil in my garden after first rooting them in water. After the initial transplant shock, the onions thrived. I had more green onion than I could handle. I did not notice a significant change in flavor from the initial onion to the subsequent cuttings although the later cuttings were less tender. You could do this on your windowsill with a small container and some garden soil. 

There are other plants you can regrow that you can find at the grocery store. However, some don't seem practical to me, but you can have at it (click here). The only other ones I've tried are lemon grass and ginger. The lemon grass grew well after I planted it outside, however it took a long time to reroot. My ginger is still alive, however it does not thrive in Minnesotan climate and I think keeping it indoors has stunted its growth. As I mentioned above, I do grow garlic, however I do not recommend planting garlic unless it's been tested to be disease free. You may be unwillingly spreading the bloat nematode, which devastates garlic and is close to impossible to remove once it is introduced to your soil. 

In any case, regrowing green onions won't save you a lot of money, but it may help bring some green in to your living space and you'll have the satisfaction of having green onion that you grew. For the beginner or an apartment-locked urbanite, this is an excellent way to get started.

Grow On!

Jack