Replanting

Today I got a little email from one of my mom's lifelong best friends, Kathi. She loves plants and gardens as well (she first introduced the term "xeriscaping" to me way back before it was cool). Her email contained a little green "tip" horoscope that she had received and wanted to pass along. It reminded me of something I haven't talked about much since one of my first posts:

Hidden in your vegetable scraps are houseplants waiting to be discovered. Cut off a pineapple top, sit it on top of a jar of water until it grows roots, then plant it in a container of soil and you've got a free indoor tropical plant. Replant the bottom half of a green onion with its roots still intact and you'll have more green onion tops to harvest. Turnips and radishes will bloom when replanted. And even discarded beans can be replanted to provide you with pretty flowers to gaze at later on.

When I got started with my garden last year, I decided to save seeds and portions of fruits and vegetables that had sprouted in my fridge. Many people said it wouldn't work, especially with the seeds, because everything we eat is now GM (genetically modified) so consumers don't try to regrow their own food. That might be true- but I decided to give it a try anyway.

I saved a few clementine seeds as well as lemon, grapefruit, sweet peppers, avocado (everyone's tried this as kids, right?), and onion bulbs; I even let an amaryllis go to seed to see what would happen. Well, guess what ye ol' naysayers?

Everything sprouted. And furthermore, all the vegetables produced.

Of course, you have to wait a while on citrus and avocado plants, since they need to be mature enough to produce any fruit, but I did get the sweetest smelling and beautiful flower on one of my little orange trees this winter. If that is all I ever get from them, I'll be happy. They are beautiful, especially in the middle of winter, and they add a touch of Florida home to our Utah apartment.

The moral of this story is- give it a try. You all have seen what we have done despite other people telling us that it can't be done; go ahead and try planting those seeds from the hot peppers you are using for salsa or the lemon you are juicing. As for me, I'm about to head out to the store for a pineapple. =)