I don’t know why it hasn’t occurred to me before, that green onions (also known as spring onions, green shallots, onion sticks, scallions, long onions, salad onions, syboes, baby onions, precious onions, or yard onions) are just like any other bulb that you would plant in the garden. And similarly they re-grow each year. I read about someone re-growing their green onions after using them in cooking and a I had ‘mind-blown’ moment when it became so obvious.
Re-growing green onions
The technique is pretty simple. Take your green onions, cut off the green stalks from the bulb leaving about an inch of the bulb. Put the bulbs in a small glass with just enough water to cover the bottom of the bulb. Leave somewhere sunny for about 10 days, changing the water regularly. Cut off the green shoots and repeat. Note, if you don’t change the water every couple of days they will start to stink.
Voilà! free food. Obviously you will need a few glasses running at a time to ensure a plentiful supply for the kitchen.
10 days later – Free Spring Onions
You can repeat this process using water for about 3 times, however each time the growth will be less because the plant isn’t getting any nutrients from the water to be able to add to the growth. As an experiment or in Winter it’s fine, but once Spring arrives you should plant the onion bulbs in compost. Either in a small pot or in the vegetable bed, making sure that there is fresh compost, plenty of light and water regularly. For even better results give the onions some liquid feed every couple of weeks and you’ll be rewarded with a bigger harvest.
Potting green onions for a better harvest
Harvesting Green Onions Sprouts
You can regrow many store bought vegetables such as garlic, celery, leeks, ginger, lemongrass, fennel, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pineapple, various types of lettuce & cabbage such as Romaine, bok choy & chicory, herbs such as basil, mint & cilantro (fresh coriander), carrot greens, tomatoes, chillies & peppers, pumpkins & squash and even mushrooms. The list is endless and will require a lot more posts to describe each of the methods.
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I am just learning about this experiment now via the blog?
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I have so many experiments going on, I can’t remember to tell you about all of them before they hit the blog.
Simply genius. Never considered regrowth as an option!
With the right amount of sunlight and water soluble fertilizer you are basically have your own personal hydroponic garden.