Indoor Garden From Leftovers

I would recommend buying organic fruits and vegetables for obvious reasons like pesticides or buy from a local farm stand that you trust their growing methods. A lot of the vegetables with the greens still attached you find in the supermarket look inedible because of the careless treatment and age. Most of these greens taste better when they are less mature. They do sell them separate and they do look better.

Certain greens are not popular. One of the reasons is they don't travel well, so it's a marketing decision. If you grow them yourself or buy local that won't be a concern.

Grape seeds planted indoors can be grown into a vine. In cooking grape leaves are used as an edible wrapping, as in stuffed grape leaves.The seeds are used to make grape seed oil and also as an exfolient in skin care.

Coffee beans (Coffea Arabica) can be grown into a plant with dark green leathery leaves. It produces white fragrant flowers and red berries.

I am concentrating on growing plants with this lens but in reusing scraps you can use the seeds to make flour, beverages and cosmetics. Peels and rinds can be cooked in various ways, used also in cosmetics, arts and craft projects and even as potpourri.

A popular way of growing a indoor garden is to use the seeds of citrus fruits to grow plants. Seeds of citrus should not be sprouted as they produce toxins. Supermarket grapefruit, lemons, limes and oranges can be planted in potted soil and produce plants. They can be pollinated with a small brush. There have been accounts of fruit being produced that are sometimes very bitter. The plant of course can be transplanted outdoors. If you becomes inspired then you can buy the dwarf variety and attempt to grow a dwarf tree indoors which will produce better fruit.

The fresh leaves of your citrus plant can be steeped or boiled and made into a tea. The leaves can be dried and be mixed with other teas or used by itself. They also can be used to wrap meat, shrimp and cheese for grilling or cooking. Also used in soups and stews as a flavoring or as garnish. The dried fragrant leaves can be placed in bathwater, closets, potpourris or floral arrangements.

A favorite plant to grow indoors is the sweet potato. (Ipomoea batatas) People will notice that sprouts will grow from a sweet potato even if left on a shelf. You can twist them off and place in growing medium or potting soil. Another way is to take a whole sweet potato and place it in a jar of water with just the bottom of the potato in the water. It can be anchored by toothpicks if the jar mouth is wide. Sprouts will show and then leaves and vines which will continue to grow in your indoor garden. The leaves are eaten in many parts of the world. You can also buy sweet potato leaves in specialty markets. Many of them will be called "yam leaves", even though they are not from the true yam plants.



The regular white potato (Solanum tuberosum) is not in the same plant group as the sweet potato and the sprouts and leaves are not edible.

Some people call sweet potatoes yams (Dioscorea batatas) but they are a different plant. The yam is a tuber and the sweet potato is a storage root. In the U.S. we did not see true yams much in the store but its becoming more popular and hopefully they will be more clear on which one you are really getting.

You can plant an avocado pit in potting soil or place it in water held up by toothpicks. To plant it the narrow part will be up above the soil and the majority of the pit will be below. If you use the water method, the plant can be potted when you see enough roots forming. It grows into a nice house plant.The leaves of the Mexican Avocado ((Persea dryminfolia) are the one used in Mexican cooking and are available at stores and online as hojas de aguacate. The leaves of the Guatemalan Avocado (Persea American) and the West Indian variety are considered toxic for people and animals. The popular Hass variety is from the Guatemalan avocado so the leaves are also not edible.

Scallions also known as green onions can be placed in water. They periodically can be snipped off then they will grow until spent. They have a onion flavor and can be used in many types of dishes.

Carrots (Daucus carota) can be bought with the green leafy tops still attached. The carrot can be cut around one half inch from the top and placed in water. The greens will continue to grow. Carrots with the greens cut but the top of the vegetable intact will grow the fern like leaves. These are also edible and make nice micro greens.

I grew this pepper plant on the windowsill from seeds of an organic sweet pepper I bought from the store. A nice plant for an indoor garden.

If you have leftover lentils, garbanzo beans or brown rice you can sprout them. You don't really need to buy special equipment just a jar or bowl and water. You can also grow grasses from leftover grains like wheat or rye. And of course microgreens are very young plants. Some people start plantings and pick some of the young ones and garnish foods with them.

There are many other things you can do with leftovers. The peels and rinds of fruits and vegetables can be made into meals. The seeds can be eaten in various ways or used in craft projects. Onion skins can be used to dye material and coffee grounds can be used also for dyeing or for beauty treatments. Eggshells can be used in art projects, placed in the garden or used as a supplement.