Plants That You Can Grow With Little Cost and Little Effort

Garlic, Potato and Avocado

There are several different types of produce that can reproduce themselves with little or no effort on your part.  Some of these may surprise you.  Others I am sure you are familiar with.

I think we've all done it.  Go to the cupboard to grab a potato and it 's yucky.  All those log creepy looking white things (typically referred to as eyes) are sticking out everywhere.  Don't throw that potato away.  Each of those eyes represent the beginning of a plant which can produce a new crop.  Often I will put a potato in a dark, cool and dry location to begin the reproduction process.  Potatoes are best harvested in early spring after the final frost of the year.  Cut the potato leaving two to three of the eyes on each chunk.  Be very careful while doing this.  The eyes tend to snap off easily.  Allow the potatoes to dry slightly before planting so they won't rot in the ground.  Dig a hole 1 1/2 to 2 inches deep place the potato eye up in the hole.  Cover the potato leaving a small portion of the eye above ground.  Six to Ten weeks later your ready to dig a few potato's out of the ground.  Sweet potatoes will reproduce using the same method.

I enjoy cooking with fresh garlic.  Growing your own is easy.  This hardy plant  will grow best during colder weather.  When left in a closed glass jar garlic will start to grow.  A green tip appears from the tip of the clove which is the beginning of the crop.  Place the garlic in well fertilized soil burying the entire bulb.  Leave the green stem above soil.  Do not over water the soil.  Garlic will spoil very quickly when over watered.  Weeks later when some of the stems begin turning yellow it will be time to harvest the cloves.

Ginger is another produce I enjoy cooking with.  Fresh ginger has much more flavor than processed ginger.  This spice is actually a root that I find is best suited to the indoors, but it can be planted outdoors in spring.  Like garlic the ginger root will reproduce itself if left in a closed glass container.  Once the stems begin to form let them grow to about a four inch length.  Place the root in soil leaving the green plant above ground.  Ginger will grow three to four feet tall and are very attractive plants.  This particular plant can take six months to fully develop and are very fragrant.

If you've ever removed an avocado seed to find a small stem growing try planting it.  Bury the seed leaving the top barely above soil.  Avocados grow extremely tall and produce a tropical like tree.  The trees will grow tall and produce a yield if grown in the right climate. 

Pineapple Plant

In my opinion the funnest of all to is a pineapple.  My husband loves this tropical yummy so we buy it on sale and can the fruit to have all year long.  When you core the pineapple slice the top about 1 1/2 inches from the stem.  Place the stem in a large pot full of fertilized soil and cover completely to the bottom of the stem.  Keep soil slightly moist until you begin to see new leaves forming at the center of the stem.  These plants get very large very quickly and resemble a thorny fern.  Yes, they will grow fruit if grown in the right climate.  Either way they are an easy to grow,  magnificent plant.