How you can start regrowing vegetables
As everyone self-quarantines amid the coronavirus pandemic, people are finding new ways to keep busy and become their most self-sufficient selves.
The latest trend is regrowing vegetables in a cup of water.
Whether it's a survivalist response to the run on food at grocery stores in the early days of the pandemic, a homeschooling science experiment the whole family can enjoy or just a new sustainable hobby, the trend has taken off.
ONIE Project, an Oklahoma-based initiative aimed at providing accessible education about healthy living and nutrition, has seen a spike in interest in their gardening tips for first-time planters.
"Since the start of the pandemic, everything [ONIE] promotes has increased 30 fold," said Jenna Moore, a research project coordinator with the group.
Moore, who hosts a weekly Facebook Live livestream called "Grow Your Own" said the audience has increased exponentially since the start of the pandemic.
"It's natural for .. fear to rise at this time," which may have led people to explore gardening, she added.
"I think people are interested in that component of self-sufficiency that gardening brings," she added.
For Lauren Goldstein, 23, from Gramercy, New York, the lifelong foodie is now a first-time plant grower. After she was laid off due to coronavirus from her job at a fashion technology company in late March, she decided to try her hand at growing produce.
"For the past few weeks, I've been at home, like so many people in this country, wondering, 'What am I supposed to do today? What am I supposed to do tomorrow?'" Goldstein said.
Inspired by an Instagram video, Goldstein attempted to regrow scallions and it snowballed from there.
"Cut off the bottom of the scallion, the white part, about an inch above the root -- you're not eating it anyways -- then put it in water, and it regrows itself," she said, explaining her first regrowing venture. "It is weird how fast they grow."
Goldstein and Moore shared easy steps to how to regrow vegetables and get yourself started. Read on for more tips and directions.
Scallions
"Scallions are so easy to grow that I feel like anyone can have success doing them ... you can get several rounds of scallions from the same plant," said Moore, adding to remember to change out the water.
1. Cut the white part of the scallions about an inch to inch and a half above the root
2. Put the root into a cup of water filled about half way
3. Place cup in a sunny spot
4. Watch it regrow itself in as little as a day
Leeks
1. Cut the leek about 2 inches from the root
2. Place in a a glass of water
3. Find a sunny spot
4. Watch it regrow
Romaine Lettuce
1. Chop a head of romaine lettuce to its bottom stump
2. Place stump in a half inch of water for a few days
3. Refill water if the water level drops below half an inch
4. When new leave begin to regrow, transfer and plant them in soil
Celery
1. Cut celery to the base of the stems
2. Place the base in a bowl of warm water in a sunny spot
3. New leaves will begin to sprout in 5 to 7 days
4. After sprouts thicken, transfer the new stems to a pot with soil
Avocados
For the more advanced!
"An avocado pit is actually a seed, so that's not regrowing a plant," Moore added. "Essentially, it's planting a seed, and once it starts germinating with a combination of the right conditions -- water, temperature and light -- you'll put that plant in the soil eventually."
1. Remove the pit from the avocado, without cutting it, and gently wash it clean
2. Pits are oblong in shape. Find the pointier "top" of the pit and the rounder "bottom"
3.Pierce the pit with four toothpicks, angled downward, evenly around the circumference of the pit
4.Fill a glass of water so that the "bottom" of the pit will rest in water, and the "top" will be above water
5. Place cup in a sunny spot
6. Change the water regularly to avoid mold
7. The avocado will spout anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks, be patient!
8. Transfer to soil when tree is about 6 inches tall
9. Water and watch it grow
"Even in an apartment [you have room] to garden," said Moore. "Put a pot of soil in the parking lot, or window sill vines."
