PROJECT 28

KITCHEN SCRAP GARDENING

Celery Stalk

A nifty beginning gardening trick is gardening by planting kitchen scraps. It is possible to have everlasting celery by replanting scraps from your harvested celery stalk.

When I tried this for the first time I was amazed at how easy and forgiving this process is. This makes it perfect for kids to do in the kitchen.

Material:

•   Celery stalk

•   Water

Tools:

•   Knife

•   Saucer

•   Sunny window

Procedure:

1.     After cutting up celery for any recipe take the base of the stalk and set it in a saucer filled with some water.

2.     Set the saucer in a sunny area of your kitchen and over the next couple of weeks check it every couple of days to ensure that the saucer still has some water in it.

3.     The celery will sprout and then you can either plant it in your garden, or in a container indoors.

Celery growing from discarded stalk

4.     When the celery grows big enough, harvest your free celery and replant the cut end for an endless supply of home raised vegetables.

Lesson Learned:

This is a great opportunity to talk about recycling and reusing items to prevent waste.