Growing plants from supermarket food - is it possible?

[Mummabear04]

I am not very green fingered and don't know much about plant growing but I was wondering if it would be possible to grow veg/herbs from supermarket food? I've seen Instagram videos of how to grow spring onions, tomatoes, strawberries and garlic. I also would like to have some plant pots full of herbs - is it possible to do this too?

I have a very sunny garden but no green house etc and the idea would be to grow it all in big pots. Do you think I might manage it and any tips or pointers? (Explain it to me like I'm a child because I don't even know the basics!)

Put rosemary cutting and other herb stems in a glass of water eg on windowsill and see if they grow roots, if they do, pop them in a pot. Mint stems root easily. You might want to remove/eat some leaves so there’s not too much demand on a small root system .

I was talking about home collected seeds of cauliflower et al.

Sorry this is a specific area of interest of mine so I apt to become invested so I'll shut up now.

I have an Avocado tree growing on the kitchen window sill from an avocado Dd ate, it's about 18 inches tall now and has big leaves.
We had a supermarket rosemary plant that went wild. Repotted a couple of times then went into the corner in the garden where it really took off, it was a massive Rosemary bush and smelt lovely.

Does it not need to be a very deep pot of soil though?

Absolutely! Seed potatoes have to pass a higher quality standard than the ones you buy to eat. People planting supermarket produce such as ginger can have the unintended consequence of producing a plant that has viruses that are picked up by an insect vector and spread to agricultural crops.
The RHS did a feature on this. Buy certified seed from a garden centre (it has to be certified to be sold).
I've kept supermarket basil going indoors through careful picking but would never plant anything out that is sold for consumption.

This is really helpful, thanks!

!That is amazing!

I think someone else has already correctly answered this for you. Basically, cut a sprig diagonally under a node. Chuck in a jam jar of water on the window sill and wait for it to sprout hairy roots. Pot up when the roots are plentiful and strong. Do several at a time, just in case one single one doesn't take. Dead easy, and pretty high success rate.

Also, I use sprigs from a cut packet, not the living potted plant, but you could use sprigs from either, or you could also take cuttings if you know someone who has a rosemary bush in their garden.

I too tend to over invest hence my attempt at a light hearted fun fact rather than go into detail, as I am wont to do 😂

So while closely related they are not exactly the same plants anymore. Accidental cross pollination with another cultivar i.e. broccoli x sprouts, may result in a hybrid, it can happen but it's pretty unsuccessful for the most part. If you collect seed from a cauliflower, you most often end up growing another cauliflower because the successful pollination to viable seed production at individual plant level is often like for like in many cases.

I am going to be pedantic and disagree with this though. Brassica oleracae can and do all cross pollinate. They are all the same species. You shouldn’t plant broccoli next to cauliflower if you want to collect seed because you are likely to get some cross pollination. You won’t necessarily get something that looks very different but it might not be as tasty or as big. On the other hand, most people plant the same vegetables next to each other so there is a good chance that most pollination will come from a neighbouring plant of the same type. Cauliflower was actually a bad example for me to use because most of the B. oleracae sub species/cultivars are self sterile but many cauliflowers can self pollinate and the structure of the flowers mean that there is a high level of self pollination.

Now it’s my turn to shut up 😂

I'm not sure you are disagreeing with anything I said

My neighbour gave me an apple tree he grew from a pip. He's also given me a lemon plant and avocado from shop bought fruit. His wife is fed up of him shoving pips etc in soil.

Is there a reason you're specifically interested in growing from supermarket food, rather than going to a garden centre? If you're an absolute beginner it would be much easier to either buy seed or young plug plants, and not much more expensive. All types of salad greens are dead easy to grow from seed, as are many soft herbs like parsley, coriander. When it comes to fruiting vegetables like tomatoes, chillis, cucumbers etc, as a beginner you are better off buying young plants because these things are a bit more fiddly to grow from seed.

The only thing I would personally bother growing from supermarket produce would be herbs - very easy to root in water as described by an earlier poster. I have mint, tarragon and sage plants that I've grown this way. Most herbs are better off grown in containers, either because they're invasive in the garden (e.g. mint), or they need a really well drained soil (e.g. thyme). Rosemary must be the single easiest plant to grow.

It's probably possible to grow more things you buy in the supermarket but you might be disappointed with the results. Things like potatoes and garlic may have been treated to prevent sprouting, may have plant diseases you don't want to introduce to your garden, or may not be varieties that grow well in the UK. Plants that grow from seeds of supermarket produce - tomatoes, apples, citrus etc. are very unlikely to be true to the parent plant in terms of appearance or flavour, it's more something you might do as a fun gardening project. For example, it's quite fun sprouting avocados from the stones, but they are unlikely to ever produce fruit as avocado trees need to be grafted.

Would this work with Thyme too?

This is going to be my DH soon - sick fed up of plants everywhere!

The main reason is Instagram made it look so easy! I'm not green figured and know nothing about gardening so don't want to spend a fortune on plants and then just kill them because I'm hopeless. I did buy some tomato and strawberry seedlings from lidl but think could probably try my hand at herbs and it would be a fun activity with the kids...

@Mummabear04 not quite what you have in mind, but one thing you can easily grow from the supermarket is Colocasia esculenta. The tubers are edible and look like knobbly potatoes, and they cost pennies - I usually start 5 at a time for under £2. They are variously sold as taro, eddoe or coco yams. They grow quickly, are happy in sun or part shade, and have the lushest leaves which can be up to a metre long. Snails are not at all interested in them.

After many failures, I have finally cracked how to grow them with a 100% success rate, so if you are interested, let me know and I will post how to do it. Now would be a good time to start them if you want to plant them out in May.

@Koulibiak I'm interested in hearing how to grow Colocasia and where I might find them to buy too if you have the time please?

Agree with all the herb cuttings advice- mint will root like a charm if you put a stem in a glass of water- take the lower leaves off.

Sprouting potatoes or garlic can be planted out.

Those 'regenerate a spring onion/celery from a stump' aren't worth it though. They'll go slimy and you very sensibly want to put stuff outside rather than have loads of glasses sitting around!

I'd look at Charles Dowding videos for actual growing from seed- pick something easy and tasty (sugar snap peas would be my recommendation if you only do one) and try it!

Hadn't seen this post but I completely agree. It only looks complicated if you're trying to do everything- start with the herbs and maybe buy a tray of tomato plants in a month or so, or sow peas direct in the soil in a few weeks.

As a teenager I also grew hemp seeds out of food we had for pigeons we kept. They were interesting, quickly grew into plants whose leaves looked like cannabis leaves 😀. I also grew peanuts. As a teen I quickly got bored after they grew and let them die. I've got more patience now.

I tried to grow chickpeas last year but no pods. I've heard of people who grow peas from dried supermarket peas.

You absolutely can grow tomatoes from supermarket tomatoes very easily - I had a few past their prime and just cut in half and put one half in each pot to start them before thinning out and re-potting. They were cherry tomatoes and grew and produced just as well as those we planted from dry seed and from purchased plants.
We have also got a 6ft avocado tree, it will be unlikely to fruit where I live but there have been wild trees in London that have fruited so if you're down south you might get lucky!
Herbs are easy as pp have explained.
I have also planted some supermarket potatoes that sprouted and they were fine too but did them in sacks rather than in the ground.

Must admit I love seeing what random plants I can get growing from waste or cuttings, it isn't expensive so why not try?! I want to have a go at a mango seed this year.

I always grow basil using the supermarket pots. You have to bear in mind that it's lots of little plants, so they need to be gently separated out at the root, then you can plant them as individual basil plants.
The snails will have a field day so keep them in hanging baskets.
You'll have loads of basil throughout the whole summer and early autumn. In fact I think mine only died because I picked too many leaves off them!
Pick off the flowers as once it flowers it stops making leaves.

@MarkingBad my local Morrisons always has eddoe tubers, so I would start there. Asian supermarkets also often stock them.

here’s how I do them. You will need:
tubers
sandwich bags
peroxide solution
multipurpose compost
perlite or vermiculite
pots (12cm to 20cm)

Put your tubers in a bowl and fill the bowl with hot (but not boiling) water. Change the water every twelve hours for 48 hours.

When changing water the last time, add peroxide to the water to prevent rot. Use the general dilution rate of 4 tbsp (60mls) hydrogen peroxide 3% per 1 litre water. My peroxide is 6%, so I use 1tbsp peroxide 6% for 500ml water, which covers five tubers. You will see the tubers fizzing - that’s fine, it means it’s working.

After 48 hours soaking, take the corms out of the water, pat them a bit dry, and place each corm in a separate sandwich bag. Before sealing the bag, blow into it once or twice to add a bit of oxygen and moisture.

Place the sealed sandwich bags in the warmest spot of your house. I put mine with the hot water cylinder, but the top of the fridge would also work. They don’t need any light at that stage.

Leave them in their dark, warm spot for 3 weeks.

If you check on them after ten days or so, you should see some of them sprouting eyes and roots. DCs may enjoy seeing the growth points come out, they look like red and white party hats.

After three weeks, take them out of sandwich bags and pot them in individual pots in 50/50 compost and perlite, or compost and vermiculite, with the soil only just covering the corn - they do not need to be planted deep. At this stage they only need small pots that will fit the corm -15cm pots are fine. Water lightly and don’t let the soil dry completely.

Put the pots in a warmish place that has some light - I put mine on the kitchen floor as I have UFH. I do use a grow light at that stage but I’m not sure that’s really necessary if you have good natural light. Shoots should appear within 2 weeks, but sometimes you get a straggler that takes another month to get on with it, so don’t give up hope.

Once shoots appear and they get going, they are fast growers. I put them on a sunny window sill and water frequently as they are very thirsty. Colocasia can be grown as marginal plants so they can take a lot of water.

Harden off for ten days or so before planting out after your last frost date. They do well in large pots too.

Here’s some I started earlier ☺️ the larger one was planted 6 weeks ago (so 9 weeks since I started soaking it) and the smaller one was planted 2 and a half weeks ago.