Immortal scallions: Grow scraps into fresh produce

The next time you’re chopping vegetables or herbs, stop yourself before you throw away the scraps. With minimal effort, those bits, stems and leaves can be regrown into new produce. It’s a cheap, easy and environmentally friendly way to feed yourself, your family and friends.

The benefits of regrowing scraps include:

• Reduced grocery bills

• Virtually free organic produce

• Less landfill waste

• Faster alternative to growing plants from seeds

• Fun experiment, especially for kids.

Difficulty level: Easy

What you'll need: Bowl or glass, water, sunlight

Grow time: One week

Keep going: Once your produce starts regrowing, simply snip what you need from the top and let the rest be. The growing cycle will repeat for constant greens on hand.

• Romaine lettuce: Cut about 3 inches from the bottom of a head of lettuce. Place the butt, bottom down, in a bowl large enough to let in sunshine. Add enough water to cover the bottom half of the lettuce (don’t submerge the whole thing), and position the bowl under a sunny window. You should see growth after the first day and roots after three or four days. Within a month, you should see an entirely new head of lettuce. Mist the lettuce leaves with water a few times a week. Same technique: bok choy, cabbage, celery

• Scallions: Cut the scallion so about 1 inch of the white bulb remains intact. Place the bulb in a narrow, clear drinking glass or shot glass so the scallion can lean over without falling. Fill the glass with a bit of water, and place the container in a sunny spot. You should see growth after a couple of days. Same technique: fennel, leeks

• Carrot greens: Chop off the leafy, green tops of carrots, leaving about 1 inch of the orange root. Place it, orange-side down, in a shallow container, add water and move to a sunny spot. After about a week, you should see fluffy new greens emerging. Same technique: beet greens, turnip greens, parsnip greens

Difficulty level: Medium

What you'll need (unless specified otherwise): Bowl or jar, pot, potting soil, water, sunlight.

Grow time: One month (unless specified otherwise)

• Garlic: A new bulb of garlic can be regrown from a single clove. Plant the clove root-end down, 1-2 inches deep, in a medium pot, and place in a sunny spot. The garlic will root and produce green shoots, which also are edible; their fancy name is scapes. Cut back the scapes to allow the garlic bulb to grow more rapidly. After about a month, dig up the garlic bulb, harvest a clove, eat the rest and repeat.

• Ginger: Soak a small piece of the rhizome — the thick nubby bit used for cooking — in a jar of water overnight, then plant it in a pot filled with potting soil. Be sure the smallest nubs face upward. Ginger grows best in indirect sunlight and moist soil. In a few weeks, new shoots will surface; this means the plant has established itself and roots have grown. To use the ginger, pull up the whole plant, cut a piece off of the now larger rhizome and plant the rest as you did initially for further growth and use.

• Lemongrass: Lemongrass grows similar to grass on a lawn. Place the root end of a lemongrass stalk in a glass jar with a little bit of water, and move into a sunny spot. After about a week, you’ll see new growth. Transplant the stalks into a pot with soil, and put back in the sunny spot. You can begin to harvest the new lemongrass shoots when they are about 1 foot tall.

• Basil: Place a 3-inch stem of basil in a drinking glass, taking care that no leaves touch the water. Put in a sunny area. Once the roots have grown several inches, transfer the basil plant to a pot. Same technique: Mint, cilantro, other leafy herbs

• Bean sprouts: You'll need cheesecloth, a jar, water and a rubber band. Grow time is one week. Place 1 to 3 tablespoons of mung beans in a glass jar. Be sure the beans fill no more than a quarter of the jar. Add cold water to cover the beans, then cover the jar with a piece of cheesecloth, securing it with a rubber band. Let the beans sit for eight to 12 hours at room temperature. The larger the bean, the longer the soak. Drain the water through the cheesecloth, rinse with fresh water, then drain again. Place the jar in a dark spot at a 45-degree angle with the cheesecloth facing down. Be sure air can circulate around the cheesecloth. Rinse and drain the beans two to four times daily. They will sprout in two to five days, and should be ready to eat in about a week. Same technique: lentils, alfalfa, chickpeas, adzuki beans

For outdoor transplanting

Potatoes, sweet potatoes and onions can be regrown fairly easily, but they require more space than a pot on a kitchen counter. For the best results, cuttings should be planted deep, about 8 inches below ground, so it’s best to grow these vegetables outdoors.

For pros

The seeds found in many common fruits and vegetables — for example, tomatoes, apples, pumpkins and peppers — can be used to regrow new plants. However, the process involves more than just a drinking glass and some water. The seeds need help germinating and must slowly be acclimated to sunlight. The plants must be staked and trimmed. If you are up for a challenge, certainly try it, but this is not a project for beginners.