YES IT'S TRUE! I HAVE WITNESSED THIS PHENOMENA SEVERAL TIMES ON YouTube VIDEOS AND CERTAIN WEBPAGES IN RECENT YEARS......YOU CAN FIND LOTS OF THESE THROUGH GOOGLE IMAGES. IT'S FUN, IT REALLY IS! YOU SHOULD TRY IT SOME TIME. I JUST POSTED AN ARTICLE ON USING OUR OWN SEED FOR GROWING SOME VEGGIES AT HOME AND THOUGHT I WOULD ADD THIS POST FOR GOOD MEASURE AS WELL FOR YOU.
SHOULD BE GOOD FOR YOU SAVVY ECONOMISTS, GARDEN AND NATURE LOVERS OUT THERE AND YOU CAN HAVE SOME FUN WITH THE KIDS AS WELL. YOU MAY LIKE TO TRY SOME EXPERIMENT FOR THE NOVELTY:)
TRACY MORIN has an article with a similar title on Mashed.Com She writes:
Whether you can't get to the store, are looking to pinch pennies, or just want to enjoy the process of growing your own produce, why not repurpose whatever vegetables and herbs you can find in the kitchen, encouraging regrowth through scraps you'd otherwise throw away?
For example, green onions and other vegetables, like romaine lettuce, bok choy, cabbage, leeks, and carrot-top greens, are renowned for their powers of regeneration — just add to a container of water and watch 'em come alive. Herbs, including coriander, basil, or mint, also revive in water, though they need to be planted in soil after their roots develop; other favorites, like potatoes and even the more time-consuming (but exotic) pineapple, can be planted in soil directly.
Of course, there's always the option of planting the seeds found inside your fruits and vegetables — citrus fruits, hot peppers, red (not green) peppers, melons, tomatoes, and squash, among others (via Empress of Dirt). But there are plenty of vegetables that can regenerate from scraps alone, no seeds required.
You Can Successfully Reharvest Vegetables From Scraps
According to Food52, some vegetables can be regrown with just "one week of water and sunshine": Fennel bulbs can be placed in one inch of water to sprout new fronds, while the base of celery can be placed in shallow water and later introduced to soil. Garlic scapes (wispy greens that look like chives) can develop from a single garlic clove that has been planted, and lemongrass stems can grow roots in water for planting in only two to three weeks.
Meanwhile, Empress of Dirt adds that other herbs can regrow their roots indoors, such as lemon balm, oregano, parsley and thyme, while root vegetables (think beets, parsnips, radishes and turnips) and bulbs like onions and shallots will sprout edible leaves. Whole plants can grow from sweet potatoes, and yams that have sprouted eyes.
Even mushroom stems will (with a little luck) regrow when stuck into soil, and ginger roots can initiate full plants after several months' time — or, if you have several years, try growing an avocado tree by planting a single pit (via BuzzFeed).
To get the most out of your new growths, Empress of Dirt recommends choosing organic varieties if possible and keeping in mind the best conditions for growing. But, hey, even if the process doesn't go exactly as planned, you haven't sacrificed anything except a little time and a few scraps that were destined for the trash or compost pile anyway!
Westchase District Farmers Market writes the following in an article called RE-GROW YOUR FOOD FROM KITCHEN SCRAPS:
We offer this tip for saving on your food budget: buy some vegetables or fruit once and then instead of throwing the scraps away, re-plant them so they can re-grow.
Many vegetables and fruit pieces that end up in the compost bin can easily be re-grown into a virtual unending supply of fresh fruit and vegetables you pay for only once.
Besides saving money, re-growing produce produces less waste and is an excellent teaching opportunity for your kids.
Keep in mind that it’s the quality of the parent plant that ultimately determines the quality of the plant that you will re-grow, so always look for the strongest possible scraps to re-plant.
1. Romaine Lettuce, Cabbage, Bok Choy, and Celery
All of these veggies will re-grow themselves from the white root end of the plant. Cut off the stalks or leaves as you normally would and instead of placing the root in the bin, put it in a shallow bowl of water. Make sure ⁹ the water covers the roots but not the top of your veggie cutting. Put it in a sunny place, such as a window ledge, and spray the top occasionally with a bit of water to keep it moist, but don’t saturate it or cover it completely with water or it will drown.
Within seven to 10 days you should start to see roots and the beginning of new leaves appear. Once you get your first leaf, transplant it into the soil. Your cutting will continue to grow until one day when it sprouts a new head of food.
And, you don’t need to pull your newly grown veggie out of the soil a second time either. Simply cut it off just above the soil and keep your plant moist for it to grow back again.
2. Sweet Potatoes
Set aside one sweet potato the next time you buy a bunch to plant later. Take your chosen sweet potato and bury all but the very top of it under a thin layer of dirt in a sunny location. Keep the soil moist, but not soaking wet, and in about seven to 10 days you should start seeing new shoots come out of the potato. When the shoots are about four inches in length, cut them out of the potato and replant them, leaving about 12 inches between each cutting. It will take you about four months before you get more sweet potatoes, but they are well worth the wait.
You will want to keep an eye out for slugs, however, as they love sweet potatoes. Putting a shallow bowl of flat beer near your plants will encourage slugs to get a drink, get drunk, and then drown. Harmless to pets and kids, this is an easy way to control slugs.
3. Ginger
This super healthy spice is super easy to re-grow. Take an extra piece of ginger and plant it in a pot with the small buds facing up. Ginger likes filtered sunlight, so keep it under a tree or in a sunny window behind another plant so it doesn’t get direct sun. Be sure to keep the soil moist but not soggy. You will have new shoots and roots before you know it. Once your ginger is well established, pull the entire plant out of the pot, pull off one piece and re-plant it. Even if you don’t eat a lot of ginger, it’s a pretty houseplant.
4. Garlic
This is another easy spice to grow. Take a clove (or several cloves) and plant it, root end down, in a spot that gets plenty of sunlight. The garlic will make new roots and grow fresh green shoots. Once it is well established, cut the shoots back to about 1/3 their original height. Your garlic will respond by putting all its energy into producing a big, juicy new garlic bulb. As with ginger, you can repeat the process by planting some new cloves from your newly grown garlic.
5. Pineapple
You don’t need to live in Hawaii to re-grow a pineapple: cut off the green, leafy part at the top of the pineapple and be sure that there is no fruit on the bottom. It’s usually easier to simply grab those stiff leaves and twist them off. Cut some small, horizontal pieces from the bottom until you see the root buds. Remove a few of the bottom layers of leaves so that you have about a one inch base at the bottom of the stalk.
Plant your pineapple base in a warm, but well drained location. Water it regularly at first, and once your plant begins growing again, cut back to once per week watering sessions. In about two years, you will be eating your own fresh pineapples from your garden.
6. Onions
These are probably the easiest veggies to re-grow. Simply cut off the root end of any onion, leaving about a half an inch of onion above the root. Cover lightly with soil and put in a sunny location. Keep the soil moist but not overly wet. Onions like a sunny, warm location so if you live in a colder environment, keep them in pots so you can move them indoors when you need to. Simply pull your onions out of the soil when they are ready, cut off the roots and replant.
Some veggies re-grow easier than others and some of them take some practice, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t have luck the first time. Also, you should always start with an organic starter plants as many conventional plants are sprayed with chemicals that stop them from reproducing themselves. Happy gardening!
I found the following on GoodsHomeDesign.Com
GARLIC: Things You Will Need A head of garlic Potting soil A container Break garlic cloves apart and sow each clove vertically into the soil at a depth of 1 inch. Cover all the cloves with soil. Place the pot in an area that gets plenty of direct sunlight. Clip off the greens when they are about 3 – 4 inches tall, leaving about an inch or so for it to re-grow. When it turns brown and dries up, dig the clove of garlic you planted and you should have a full bulb. Take a clove from that and start over!
I’ve had cloves of garlic start to sprout in the fridge or cupboard and have re-planted them as they were. It helps if they have new little root fibers in addition to the sprout at the top. They will grow a new whole head of garlic from a single clove.
PINEAPPLES are delicious and will surely be among the top choices of re-grown fruit in your home. It does take a very long time (18 - 24 Mths) until you can pick the fruit from the pineapple tree you grow at home. Simply place the green top piece (with no fruit attached to it!) in a warm environment. Also, make sure the surface is well drained. Pour water regularly at first and then weekly.
I saw a guy on YouTube once who bought about 8-10 pineapples to grow this way - what a Save - he would have lots of pineapples later for a small cost compared to buying the plants hey?
5 Min Video Planting a Kitchen Garden - Kitchen Scraps HERE
I will possibly make another Post on tis topic soon. Cheers!