Turning vegetables you'd toss into vegetables you've grown

Who says you can't have your cake — or pineapple — and eat it too? You may think pitching carrot tops into the compost is eco-friendly, but there's a more productive way to deal with your leftover produce.

The tough tops and bottoms of some common fruits and vegetables can create whole new plants. Here's how to turn the bits of vegetables you'd normally toss into the compost into the seedlings for a spring vegetable garden.

Green onions

• The white tip of a green onion or scallion contains a small portion of root that can regrow the plant.
• Just place the root end in water.
• As the plant begins to regrow from both the root and cut tip, keep changing and adding water.
• You can transplant onions in spring or keep them growing on a windowsill indefinitely.

Carrots

• You can purchase carrots with the green tops intact or removed — either way, it's easy to use the wide tops to grow new greens.
• Just place an inch of cut top in water, cut side down, until roots develop.
• Space multiple growing tips about three inches apart in potting soil.
• Carrots won't regrow their orange taproots, but they will produce luxuriant green tops that are full of vitamins and minerals.
• These carrot tops are tasty in salads and soups.
• These tops also make lush, fernlike houseplants.

Ginger

• Have you ever wondered what to do with that piece of ginger root leftover from making teriyaki stir fry?
• You can actually bury the root in soil and use it to grow a brand new ginger plant.
• Put your leftover ginger into some soil and place the plant-to-be in a shady, moist location indoors or out.
• Your ginger plants will produce beautiful foliage and develop fat, delicious roots you can begin harvesting after a year or two.

Pineapple

• To rescue the green top of a whole pineapple cut the top off, including two inches from the fruit portion and let it dry for a couple of days in the open air.
• Then suspend it in a glass half filled with water.
• Keep the base above the water line by about a half-inch.
• To keep the base above the water, use a glass with a narrowing top or use toothpicks to hold the top up.
• Maintain the plant in a sunny window and replace the water every second day. Roots should start to form in two weeks.

Garlic

• That slender centre clove in a bulb of garlic can be quite useful; in fact, any other cloves you don't use can be planted in your garden for a home grown garlic harvest.
• Plant cloves pointed side up in fall.
• If fall isn't for a few months, start garlic plants in a glass of water on a sunny windowsill before moving them outside.

Celery

• Regrow celery from the heel.
• Fill a dish about half way up with sand or pebbles.
• Excavate a hollow in the centre of the dish, and place the celery heel with about two inches of stalk over the hollow.
• Add enough water to barely cover the heel.
• Change the water daily.
• In about 10 days, roots will begin to form, and you can plant what will become a new celery plant.

To help keep a steady flow of vegetables in your kitchen (and save a few dollars on groceries), try regrowing some of these vegetables from scraps for yourself.