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!)

I heard a radio programme about a tough American prison where the prisoners grew tomatoes from seeds they collected from their meals, they scraped soil from the exercise yard into yoghurt pots and took it from there.

When the warders saw this they went to the head of the prison and suggested they give the prisoners a proper garden to work in.

TBH, if you are a complete beginner you want an easy success so as not to get discouraged. I would just buy a packet of tomato seeds and start there. I would go for a variety like Tumbling Tom which doesn't need support.

Like PPs I also buy one supermarket basil plant and split it up into 3 or 4 separate plants which keep me going all summer. Growing tomatoes and basil together is a perfect summer combination.

Allt his is fabulous, thank you.

Our local Morrisons (very small town) never stock anything more adventurous than a butternut squash so I'll have to look further afield I think but there must be some places that stock Colocasia fairly locally. Your images of the growing plants are great, I look forward to trying it thanks again.

@Mummabear04 thinking about it squash and melons are really easy from seed and they give a good sized harvest for little investment, might be worth a shot if you like melons and squash.

Apart from the common things, two exotic things I have grown from seed are dragon fruit and kiwi berries.

The dragon fruit produced baby cacti. However I let them get too cold so they died, so I don't know if I could ever have had a harvest.
Kiwi berries taste like kiwi fruit but are small and not fuzzy. The seeds germinated easily and grew quickly. I planted several in the garden - they are climbers like honeysuckle. They have flowered but so far no fruit. However you need both male and female plants to get fruit so maybe the ones I planted are all one sex?

Every spring I buy a pot of basil and parsley from the supermarket - split into several clumps and pot up each one. I've also done it with thyme, sage and rosemary.

I've had a seemingly never ending supply of Jerusalem artichokes from a pack of 6 I bought at Waitrose about 20 years ago!

@bluesatin do you remember how long it took for the dragon fruit to germinate? As they are quite expensive to buy and I don't expect to grow my own dragon fruit but for experimental means but I want to make my purchase worth it. Thanks

I have well stocked and fascinating world food shops near me so I might try out growing other things.

I grew a huge mint plant from a bunch of chopped mint. Stalks of mint, but they were cut. Managed to root them and in a little pot on the windowsill. Planted outdoors ok last year and it grew huge! It's only these recent freezing mornings that are giving it a bit of trouble at mo.
My parsley is still going after buying 'living' herb. Basil succumbed to the cold, but I'll get some more for this summer.

Chives and spring onions are really easy from seed.

I've always found carrots and tomatoes really easy from seed

Growing a pumpkin is fun and quite easy too, plus very tasty and not stinky like the supermarket ones!

Get some seed potatoes and plant on about a foot, maybe less soil. As the leaves grow keep adding more soil under the leaves so all stems are covered. Keep doing that and you'll end up with a couple of foot of soil. Once they've flowered and leaves look about done... Time to find your little potatoes!

Maybe watch a YouTube video on that, because I don't think I've explained it very well 😂

Sweetcorn is really easy to grow if you have a sunny spot and some space.
Tastes amazing!

Okay, I'm going to shut up now 😂