Veggie patch from kitchen Scraps!!

When I began my patio gardening back in California two years ago, I began growing greens and few veggies from my kitchen scraps. I wasn't ready to spend money on something which I wasn't sure of growing with minimal sunlight in a patio. Growing Fenugreek (Methi), Tomatoes, Potatoes, Onions, Chillies, Chamomile, Garlic are simple and easy for me!!

Here are few veggies growing this year in my garden....

Fenugreek: 2 Tbsp of methi seeds are good enough to get a decent sized patch of greens in about 10 days. One of the easiest greens to grow. Needs direct sunlight.

Fenugreek leaves

                         
Tomatoes: I do not use Tomatoe seeds in my cooking, they usually end up in my compost pile. If I like the color or texture then I dry those seeds and plant them. Make sure the tomatoes or any other veggies are heirloom variety. The hybrid doest yield good crops or produce. I use organic tomatoes in my cooking. Needs direct sunlight.

Tomatoes

Potatoes: Not all Potatoes can be grown when you toss them in ground. Most of them are hybrid. I plant them when I see sprouts in them. They are cold loving plants. Grow them in fall and early winter outdoors.

Potatoes 

Onions: They grow in spring, summer and fall outdoors. I noticed a giant onion sprout in my shelf so I planted in my raised bed along with few green Onions from store. They are all blooming now and I use them only for their leaves. It was interesting to note that none of my green Onions had bulb below them. Not sure if it was hybrid!!

Onion bloom!!

Onions         

Chillies: Am great fan of Chile California because of the sweetness and its rich red color. These dried chillies are available widely in CA. Here in Ohio, only Mexican stores carries them. I usually discard seeds while cooking. I save them up for sowing later. They grow pretty big!! My sister who lives in London imports them from here. If you need deep red color with zero spice, these are the chillies to use. Haven't tried with Badgi or Kashmiri dried chilies yet!!

Chile California 

Cilantro: For some reason I don't have green thumb growing Cilantro. I have tried splitting the seeds in two by crushing them. Tough luck there!!

Chamomile flowers: Chamomile tea is my favourite!! Sprouts farmer market in CA carry them in bulk. Drinking 2 cups a day keeps your nerves calm.  It also calms the upset tummy and helps to fall asleep when you have a bout of insomnia. Growing them is pretty easy. I sprinkle these dried flowers used in tea on a ground and in matter of weeks you could see the blooms. Needs lot of sunlight.

Garlic: I tried growing from a garlic that sprouted in my kitchen shelf. They can be grown from spring to fall. They are not hardy unlike Onions.

I have had some success growing few more veggies got from grocery stores. Lemongrass, Chickpeas, Taro leaves, Basella Alba(Basele Soppu), Lemon and Orange plant(from seeds).

Lemongrass: Got few stalks from grocery store and kept them in a glass so I could see roots when they emerge. It took about 2 weeks for the roots to show up. Change water once in 2-3 days. Once the roots emerge, you could plant them into a pot or ground. They need lot of sunlight.
               

Lemongrass root

Taro leaves : Got two corms from Jungle Jim's. An Indian guy who was helping other customers gave me a tip to pick the ones with pink pointy tip. I picked one with pink pointy and another one without. Planted two of those corms in separate pots indoors in Feb. It took 2 months for them to sprout. The one without pointy tip never sprouted but got rotted inside the soil. These need lot of water and sunlight.

Taro leaves

Garbanzo Beans: I love eating them raw!! It brings back memories from childhood where the pods were plucked from plant and eaten. Indian stores in Cincy carries them in spring and summer. I planted few mature beans and it took a week for plant to emerge. 

Chickpeas

Basella Alba/Basale Soppu: My mom uses these greens in making Tambli. In one of our regular conversation when I told her about the availability of this, she suggested I could grow them from cuttings. Needs lot of sunlight. Mine has a stunted growth as it is indoors.

Basella Alba

Lemon/Honey Orange: Out of curiosity, one day I planted bunch of lemon seeds and Honey Orange seeds in a pot and kept them indoors on a sunny windowsill. I forgot about it as nothing happened for 3 months. When the temperature started to warm up saw these saplings emerge. Well, I can't tell the difference between Lemon and Orange plant :-)

Lemon and Honey Orange

The list does not end here!! If you have tried with any other veggies not mentioned here please let me know.