While our diets need to be rich in fresh veggies and fruits, the best way to reap all their benefits is to make sure they are organically grown, at home.

Therefore, all those who have a backyard garden are blessed with the opportunity to eat the food they have grown on their own.

The taste of a fresh vegetable or fruit produced on your own is much different from the produce we buy at grocery stores, which have been harvested for days before we buy them.

Apart from improving your health, a garden will help you get regular physical exercise and will relieve stress. At the same time, you will save money and time.

If you don’t have a yard, you can start an indoor garden on a windowsill, and still enjoy these benefits. Moreover, it is much simpler than most of you believe. While the most common ways of planting include the use of seeds or seedlings and pruning vegetables, you should definitely try regrowing kitchen scraps!

In this way, you will turn the house into a small green garden!

Here are 11 plants you can regrow from scraps:

1. Garlic-- Choose a large clove of organic garlic, place it with the root down into the soil, and place the pot in a sunny area, exposed to direct sunlight.

2. Carrot greens- Set aside about two inches on the end of the carrot, and submerge half of it in a dish with one inch water. Keep it in a sunny place for two weeks, and the new leaves will appear. In about a month, the tops will be bushy and roots will have appeared on the cut end.

3. Sweet potatoes-- Sweet potatoes sprout easily in water, and then you can replant them for a longer crop.

4. Potatoes- You can use any part of the potato that has an ‘eye’ on them (visible sprouts). Leave the scraps to dry out overnight and then plant them in soil with the eyes facing up.

5. Celery- Dip the part of the celery with the root in a shallow dish with water to sprout. In about a week, transplant the stalk to a soil-filled container.

6. Beets- Place the beet tops, (where the leaves and stems join onto the root), in a container with water for a few days. Transplant them when they sprout or use them right away.

7. Scallion- Cut off the root of the scallion, leave about 1″ to 2″ of the stem, and place it in a jar with water.

8. Basil- Place a 10 cm- stem into a glass of water, with the leaves submerged, and when the roots start to grow, transplant the cuttings into pots or in the garden.

9. Onion- Place the top of the onion in a tray with water, and once the small side roots appear, you can plant it out in the soil.

10. Rosemary- Take 6- to 8-inch stem cuttings, remove the leaves from the lower half, and dip them in a glass of water, on a warm place in your home.

11. Lettuce- Any lettuce that grows in heads, like romaine, butterhead, and iceberg, regrows easily. In a bowl, place the lettuce leaves with little water, and leave it in a sunny area. Wash the leaves with water daily, and in a few weeks, new roots will grow along with the new leaves.

You will be delighted with the results!

Sources:
www.apieceofrainbow.com
www.familyhandyman.com
www.burke.org