19 Vegetables & Herbs You Can Grow From Scraps

There is something satisfying about growing a vegetable you purchased from a supermarket again. Not only do you get more for your money, but you’re also using what would normally be considered waste.

There are various methods to grow from scraps. Some plants will not perform at their best the second time around, but they will eventually flower and then go to seed, allowing you to collect and resow. Some plants, like sprouted garlic, can be planted straight into containers or in the garden. Over time, new bulbs will grow to be harvested.

If you provide light, water, or moist soil, you will likely see growth on most of the plants listed here in a week. Not all plants can be grown this way, so beware of dubious video hacks you may have seen online, because most of them don’t work.

Choose from any of these vegetables and herbs and have some fun!

Basil

Basil plants do better if they are regularly harvested. Taking the tops off also stops them from going to seed too quickly and helps them bush out, producing more leaves. In this way, the plants are regularly used as cut-and-come-again herbs. But you can also regrow scraps of basil purchased from the store in water on your windowsill.

Many cooks buy their basil and care for it by placing it in water immediately and covering it with a plastic bag around the base to ensure it stays fresher for longer. These industrious cooks will be growing new basil without even knowing it. 

When you buy fresh basil from the store, cut a few stems off the tops and remove the lower leaves. Pop these into water and wait until the plants develop strong roots. You can then plant these into new pots filled with fresh potting soil to grow continuously like this throughout the year. Pay for one pack of basil and then never pay again.

Beets

When buying beets from the store, look for fresh, unwilted leaves and firm bulbs. Cut off the leaves, including about half an inch of the top of the bulb. Often, you will already see new growth between the stems. Cut the stems off above this growth or about five to six inches from the base.

The base of the beets will have some nutrients included to feed the new growth as it appears. It also acts as a base to sit upright in a shallow dish. Add a little water and leave it to grow in a well-lit area. 

At the cutting stage, you can also plant them straight into a prepared area in the garden or in containers to grow before they have rooted. Make sure they get enough water to boost growth.

When using this method to grow from scraps, you can only harvest the new leaves of these beets. They are perfect for adding to smoothies, salads, and soups.

Bok Choy

For regrowing bok choy, choose healthy plants with intact basal plates. Cut from the base about two inches up. Use the leaves for your next stir fry, and then regrow the cut ends. Make sure just the base is submerged in water. This is where the roots will grow from.

Place them in a brightly lit space, and they will begin sprouting from the center of the stems in just a few days. After about two weeks, the base plates will have tiny roots growing from the sides, ready for planting in soil. 

Remove any dried parts from the sides of the plants and pinch out any flowers as soon as you see them so they don’t go to seed too quickly. Sometimes, it will only take a month before the leaves can be harvested.

Carrots

Some plants, like carrots and beets, grow only the vegetative parts for us to eat. A new carrot will not form when you grow from scraps. However, carrot tops are full of nutrients and can be used extensively in the kitchen. Use instead of parsley in stocks, soups, and salads, or make a tangy pesto.

Cut the carrots so they have some root attached to the stems and leaves. Trim off any wilting leaves and trim the stems back to around two to three inches tall. Place in a container with a bit of water to cover the base of the root.

Once planted, carrots will grow more green growth and, at higher temperatures, start flowering quickly. However, they are still worthwhile to grow from scraps, as the flowers will attract pollinators to the garden.

Celery

Celery bases are one of the most popular veggies to grow from scraps. 

To start, cut the base off the celery bulb leaving about two inches of stem. Place in a bit of water and wait about a week until they start sprouting from the center of the stem cluster. Once the bulbs have rooted, they can be replanted in the garden or in pots. 

The leaves are good to harvest and make excellent celery salt. There will be some stalks that can be harvested, but they are often bitter from regrown stock.

These are also biennials, so once they flower, they are done with their season. Wait until the seed can be harvested for replanting.

Cilantro

Cilantro will form roots in a few days if the stems are placed in jars of clean water. You may even find that the bunches of cilantro you get from the store already have roots attached. 

Make sure no leaves sit under the water in the jars, or it will become a soggy mess. Also refresh the water daily. Each stem can be planted into pots to grow on and have a continuous supply of herbs.

Ensure the planted cilantro is well watered, as they are thirsty plants. Check the soil every few days to stop it from completely drying out. It’s best to plant cilantro grown from scraps in containers alone, as most other herbs do not need as much water as they do.

Fennel

Fennel is similar in appearance to celery and can be grown from scraps in the same way. 

This plant has a specific flavor, a favorite of some and shunned by others. Whatever your preference, if you buy fennel, go ahead and regrow it. You can cut half an inch off the bulb with the base attached and regrow from this. 

Place it in a shallow dish with a bit of water. Don’t submerge it; just cover the root area. It will start sprouting between the layers.

Once the bulb has rooted well, it can be planted in soil. Then, harvest the leaves as they grow. If left to flower and go to seed, the seed can be gathered and used in many dishes in the kitchen or replanted to make more fennel bulbs.

Garlic

This is one of those herbs that sprout readily in a warm kitchen. It takes about eight months to form a new garlic bulb from a sprouted clove, which is one of the reasons why it’s so expensive in stores. 

To grow from scraps, prepare rich soil that is friable and contains added compost. Place a sprouted clove in the soil with the pointed end upwards, two to three inches deep, and firm down. Water at least two to three times a week to prevent stress. If they get stressed, they will likely bolt and not set any bulbs.

Feed regularly with liquid plant food and wait for the leaves to yellow and die down before harvesting the bulbs. Even if you take just one or two of your garlic cloves to grow on, it makes a fun gardening experiment. 

Ginger

Ginger is an underground rhizome that spreads horizontally. It pushes up shoots into the soil and above ground to gather light, feeding back into the rhizomes to continue their growth. 

In subtropical regions, ginger can also become invasive. Any little bit of rhizome left behind when you dig them up will carry on growing to produce more plants. If they are invasive in your area, it’s best to grow them in a container.

In the kitchen, they can easily grow from scraps in a warm environment. Plant each little piece in moist soil to grow. After a few months, the rhizomes can be harvested.

Leeks

This vegetable can be expensive in stores, so it makes sense that they are regrown from scraps to make new ones. Leeks can also be purchased with roots on the bases, making them easy to regrow. 

Cut the base with an inch of stem attached and place in a shallow dish with a bit of water to cover the roots. Ensure it stays upright in the container. You can use a few cocktail sticks placed into the stem to make a triangle to keep it straight, as you would for an avocado pip.

The leeks will grow taller and greener between the layers with minimal new root development at first. Replace the water every couple of days. After about ten days, a new leek plant will have developed. It can now be planted in the ground in the garden or in containers to grow into bigger plants.

Lemongrass

This grass is easy to grow and will last for years in the garden in USDA Zones 8-11. They clump together, forming more shoots as they grow, so there is always a good supply. You can also start these plants from lemongrass you buy at the store. 

Simply place a stalk in a few inches of clean water. In a couple of weeks, it will have developed enough of a root system to plant in the ground or in containers. Make sure you have enough space for them to clump and grow.

Lettuce

Different types of lettuce perform differently from scraps. Some can be harvested continuously during the growing season before they bolt or go to seed when the weather warms up. These are called perpetual lettuce, and they don’t form hearts but rather a bunch of leaves harvested from the outer edges. Pick as much as you need for a salad, and leave the rest to grow on.

These lettuces are easily grown from store-bought varieties. Romaine is the more popular choice to regrow, but other types are worth a try, too. Cut the base off the lettuce with an inch of stems attached and place it in shallow dishes in a bit of water. Change the water often and ensure any growing leaves don’t touch the water to become mush.

Hydroponically grown living lettuces that come bagged with roots can also be regrown. Once you have used the outside leaves, trim the roots and put them in water, straight into the ground, or into containers. They will grow to almost full size in three weeks, planted in a container and sheltered from harsh weather.

When the temperatures warm up and they start to bolt, the leaves will become bitter. At this stage, they can be composted or left to go to seed for seed saving.

Mint

Mint is one of those plants that can become rampant. But once it’s been in the garden for a while, it becomes leggy, and the leaves lose their vibrant flavor. There is no need to rush to the nursery for more plants, as it can easily be rooted in water.

This also applies to herbs purchased at a store. Remove the lower leaves from a few stalks of mint and place them in jars of water until they are rooted. It will take only seven to ten days for the mint to root.

If you want mint in the garden, drop the containers in the soil with the plants so your mint won’t take over. 

Onions

Many onions come ready rooted from the store if they are not overly processed. Cut the base off the onion with half an inch to an inch of onion flesh attached and place in a shallow dish with a bit of water to root. Any type of onion can be grown this way.

More roots will appear in about three days. After about two weeks, they can be planted in soil. Like garlic, onions take a long time to form bulbs – 60-80 days. This is time-consuming and should be treated like a fun experiment rather than a way to grow a large harvest.

Often, onions are grown like this to use the greens in soups and stews, not to rely on a bulb to form. They are better grown from seed to form proper bulbs.

Sprouted onions are another matter. They can be carefully unearthed from the onion as already forming onions with some roots attached. Plant these in moist soil, and they will likely form proper, fully-grown onions in a bit less time than it takes to grow them from seed.

Pineapple

Pineapple is not a vegetable, but it deserves a place on this list because it grows so well from scraps. 

Pineapples are from the bromeliad family. These are divided into epiphytes and ground varieties, of which pineapple falls into the latter. However, they have similar properties, so they grow well from just the leaves.

Pineapple is one of the only fruits you can grow like this. Other fruit types like apples, peaches, and pears come from grafted trees. Although you can grow an apple from an apple seed from your kitchen scraps, it will likely take decades to grow the tree to maturity before you can harvest any fruit, if at all. A plant from seed may also not have the same characteristics as the grafted tree varieties.

Place the pineapple in a shallow container and keep it hydrated. You can also simply plant it in the ground and forget about it. They are tough and hardy in subtropical regions but will need the help of a greenhouse for the colder areas outside USDA Zones 10-12.

Potatoes

Just like many other vegetables in a warm kitchen, potatoes will form eyes. Once that happens, they can be planted in the ground or in containers to make a bunch more plants. 

Add whole potatoes with the biggest eyes facing upwards to a rich mix of soil about three inches thick in the bottom of a container. You can cut them in pieces, each with an eye, but I find it more successful to use whole potatoes. This also stops bacteria from entering any cut areas.

As the potatoes start sprouting leaves, add a little more soil. By the time the potatoes reach the top of the container, they should have a lovely, lush load of leaves. By pushing the potatoes upwards, more roots are formed along the stems, and more potatoes grow.

Before the potatoes are ready to harvest, the plants need to flower, and the leaves need to yellow and die down. It will take around four months to get your harvest.

Scallions

Scallions are another onion type you can grow from scraps. They can be regrown by cutting off the base and adding to a shallow dish of water. 

If they are sprouting already, remove the outer layers to reach the new plant and grow those in a rich mix of soil in the garden or in deep pots.

Spring Onions

Spring onions are super-fast cut-and-come-again veggies ready for re-harvesting within a week if you find them already rooted in-store. Wait a little longer if your cuttings have no roots, and set them in jars of fresh water to root. 

You can continue harvesting from the new growth as needed in your kitchen. With so little effort, there are few reasons not to give it a try. 

Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are another vegetable that will sprout naturally in a warm kitchen. They can then be looked after by adding some water and suspending them in jars supported with cocktail sticks. 

Sweet potatoes will not grow like normal potatoes where you stick the tubers in the ground. If you do that with sprouted sweet potatoes, you get a lot of leaves, and not much else.

Any of the many varieties of sweet potatoes can be grown from slips. If your sweet potatoes have not already begun to sprout, insert three cocktail sticks into each potato to form a tripod to help suspend them over water. The pointy end is the top, and the flat end is the base. Submerge at least half the potato in water and change the water every two days.

The slips for the sweet potatoes will develop from the bottom of the potato. For already sprouted sweet potatoes, cut the potato so you have a bit of flesh with the sprouts and submerge the flesh into water up to the stems of the sprouts. This will develop proper roots so the potatoes can be planted into the soil.

The slips will take around two months to develop. Break the slip apart and off the tuber and plant each in the ground. It will take around 90 days to harvest sweet potatoes grown from slips.