"The After Dinner Gardener" Is out of print but a week or so age I was looking for ideas for plants to grow and came across this book used on a lot of websites, Try a google search.

Bookfinder has 35 or more from $1 (plus shipping & handling) to $31.70 in paper or hardbound -- apparently the title is The After-Dinner Gardening Book (http://www.bookfinder.com, enter Richard Langer in the author slot).

D&K

i have managed to get citrus to grow: lemon, grapefruit, orange, tangerine only seedlings so far. Also Grape seeds that i chilled in the fridge for two months... so far so good

Ginger, garlic.
You can grow the tops of carrots and parsnips, but you will just get a plant not another carrot (if you know what I mean.)
I know someone who grew a chinese pear and said it was a nice plant.
Peanuts.
All the citrus pips.
Nuts: hazel etc. Never tried brazil nuts.

What kind of nuts can I buy at the store that will grow?

I wanted to add to this regarding the growing of ginger. You need to plant your ginger like you would an iris, with an end with buds on it sticking out of the soil, a couple inches at least. Water it only when it is dry and it needs to be brought in in the winter. This is the second year I have grown mine. The plant part died back during the winter in my greenhouse but was back again this spring and is over 4 ft. tall now. I will harvest my ginger this year, leaving one or two peices to replant and grow again.

Citrus master, you cannot grow vanilla (an orchid) from a cured pod. Or rather, you can, if you can flask at home, have room for a 20 foot vine and patience to wait for 7-ish years for a flower that may or may not produce 1 single vanilla pod.

If you want to sprout a sweet potato, you have to make sure it has not been treated with an anti-sprouter. Even in an organic stand, I would still ask. I wasted months trying to get one to sprout. I just couldn't get over it - it didn't even decay, partly subvmerged in the water for weeks and weeks. Scary!

Basils...all kinds. After stripping the leaves for your dishes, just plant the stems in moist soil. They will take roots in no time.

Taro is pretty invasive if it planted in a natural pond or bog area without a means to control it and you live in the deep south. My wife loves the stuff, and was bad about planting it anyplace she could place a piece of it, and now I have patches of Taro that is like a jungle..Looks nice and is a great plant, but once it dies from cool weather its a big mess to clean up all that soggy soft material. I have some taro plants on the back patio planted around the patio slab whose stems are over 7" in diameter, and the tubers are well over 3 or 4 feet long. All it takes is just one good wind and they break off easily. Having pine trees over them don;t help either. As pine needles falling poke holes in the leaves pretty easy, so the leaves are always full of holes or pine needles half way through them. I call it a weed, my wife calls it a plant! Same for Parrots feather. It grows wild in th ditches and bogs all over this area, but I did not know about it until I had just purchased some for my own area around my pond....then I find a heap of this stuff literally growing all over. Alabama classes it a a noxious weed......water garden places sell it as a exotic aquatic plant!

I had cut off and cooked the leaves of some organic beets. Put the red root part (what people call the beet) in a plastic bag in the frig and forgot about them. When I found them they were covered with white slime. I threw them in in a weed patch. They rooted sitting on the ground and now there are the biggest most beautiful beet greens on the original red beet roots. (p.s. beet greens are delicious, very nutritious. Cooks like spinach. Just wash off and sautee the greens in a skillet with no fat, just the clinging moisture from washing, until they wilt and tenderize. Serve with butter)

On starting the pineapples, twist off the top and cut off all the fruit end so that it is clean. Carefully pull off a bunch (5-8)of the leaves towards the stump end you just cut off and you will see that there are roots already formed on the stem. Put it in a glass of water so that those small roots are submerged. Put the glass in a sunny window and your pineapple will grow like crazy. I have several I started like that in the edge of my fish pond all summer and they are growing like crazy, not potted, just placed where the roots are in the water. I also had a pineapple that I was growing in the top of a betta vase for a couple of years until my betta died. It was in a bright spot and it growed really well. It was a little more impressive than just the regular peace lily!

Anyone mention watercress? Some people stick a bunch in a trickle fountain or other area with running water (even a streamlet feeding a bog). It sprouts roots and grows like crazy.

Someone mentioned store bought nuts. I have seedlings of walnuts, pecans, almonds, & pistachio trees from store bought seeds. On that coconut look for an sprout around the active eye.

cool , Baci. Thanks for that info.

If you are planting a large ginger root it must be planted horizontally. I often have them start sprouting by laying them on a cool spot on the kitchen counter and covering them with a paper towel or thin cotton dishtowel. The lemon grass can be sprouted with pieces that have been cut very near to the root. Peel away the blades to uncover little bumps that will become roots. Try not to tear the root area when you remove the blades. Cutting them away with a razor blade works best. I always start my rosemary from the fresh herb packets and french taragon and bay laural seem to do fairly well. Sandy

You know those funny fruits they call "Star fruit"? A tropical I sometimes find in the store. Anyway, I planted the seeds and got a few nice, mimosa looking trees. Kinda pretty. I have a really nice looking pineapple (quite big now) and it has a fruit on it. It has taken 2 1/2 years to set the fruit. Easy to do though. I have a lemon from seed that set its first fruit 3 years after planting the seed.

where can you get unroasted coffee beans?or can you?

Unroasted coffee beans can be purchased from many sites on the 'net - just search for "green coffee." The site I've attached a link to has a wonderful page about sprouting coffee and sells green coffee too.

If you don't want a whole bag of green coffee, several eBay sellers are offering Coffea arabica seeds. Since these haven't been processed they're your best chance of getting plants.

Also, since I've stopped by this thread several times and done some other research, I'd like to mention The Don't Throw It, Grow It Book of Houseplants, by Selsam and Peterson, 1977, as another used book that's handy to track down.

Here is a link that might be useful: Growing Coffee at Home

How do you grow the nuts - walnuts, etc.? Do you shell and plant the kernel or plant the whole thing? Thanks.

Sunrmsilly, you can just plant the walnuts & pecans. I peeled my pistachioÂs. I grew fuzzy almond, which needs to dry before planting. With dried almond, I scarified them first. You can also grow store olives from seed if you get them fresh. They root in peat.

sweet potato will not sprout if it is cool must be warm for them to sprout any temps of much under 5oF will hurt them or shut them down. to plant grow vines from a tuber then remove them and either put them in water or dirt to root. strip a bit of stalk to help rooting. plant out in partial shade to full shade and they will do fine a good candidate for shade location food plant. grow a few alfalfa plants to bush and get a purple flower and supply sprouting seed. same for other sprout seeds you use. raw penuts will sprout and make crop in a long enough season. to get onion seed plant some bulbs that are trying to sprout. shallot garlics plant out any that are trying to sprout. lemon grass must be rooted late winter early spring and set out mid spring. A single stalk will become a large clump over summer. beware planting fruit seed particularly apple pear peach grape will probably either make no fruit or seldom make the same fruit they came from graft these from existing fruiting plants grapes are easily rooted. many tomato are hybrid and will not come true from seed heirloom and paste type usually will come true. watermelon may or may not catelope same thing.

Here's another..Jerusalem artichokes. I use to live in central IL, and they grew like crazy...died back in winter..came up the next year. They spread like crazy so be advised. Up north they grew to about 6 - 8 feet.

Taro root is edible, but you MUST COOK IT FULLY. If you don't, it can really hurt your tounge... makes your mouth swollen. I'm chinese, they call taro "yu-tou". I think you can cook it with soy sauce... but I dont know how. It is potato-ish and you don't need starch in dishes with is. I doubt that anyone would eat the roots of their plants though (:

Oh yeah... you can cook the stalk with tofu or something... but again, IT MUST BE FULLY COOKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Korean Melon

I have 2 sweet potato plants growing in my garden that I purchased from Home Depot in March. One has deep purple leaves and one is verigated with a pink hue. They are both beautiful. Will they come back next year? We have pretty mild winters here although it occasionally drops down below freezing but when it does its just for a few hours. I was wondering if I should mulch them well or if they are considered an annual and are destined to die anyway.

Makes me think back to when I was a kid. My mom had a window box sitting on the back patio. Called the starter bed for 'garbage gardening'. We had potatoes, sweet potatoes, grapes, dill, all citrus seeds, avocado, anything that came from the market and had a seed, would start in that starter bed. Then we'd pot it up and see what happened... Good fun.
Find an oriental market and explore fresh vegetables and fruits. Star fruit is a great one to grow from seed.
LU

You can grow sugarcane from the stalk. I did it last year. They are so easy to grow. TT

Yoyo-- how did you get sugarcane to take root?

Also, to you who have grown nopale cactus -- prickley Pear -- what's your secret? mine either shrivel or rot.

Add kiwi to the list. I spread seeds on top of moist soil with bottom heat and artificial light. Germination in three weeks.

Anyone have any tips on growing cactus from the "pads" they sell at the grocery store?

The spanish name for Taro is "Malanga" Thats how all the grocery stores lable them here in Miami.
They are a very attractive plant I might add.

Regards,

-Jc

Where can you purchase water chestnuts for growing? Thanks!

Hi! New Member, new gardener, newlywed - on a budget! Can you plant carrot tops and actually get a carrot if you wait long enough? If so, any tips? I just got some carrots with leaves, so if no one answers I guess I'll try it, and answer my own post, if inquiring minds want to know! Thanks!

Lest we forget the humble peach and apricot. A real challenge to crack the pit without damaging the seed inside. Maybe it can be done without cracking the outer shell. I have jest had better luck cracking it open with a hammer and then planting the inner seed.
Thanx for listening and keep 'em plants growin.
Lois

I just went to Ranch 99 market (asian supermarket) yesterday, and saw that they have lotus tubers for $1.99 a pound. I bought one and tossed it into my little water garden and we'll see what happens... I figured I could afford the less-than-$1 it cost to find out!

Amanda 'romando'

I bought fresh water chestnuts at a local asian market. They just sprouted. I also bought a bag of white lotus seed. They look like empty white shells: split open on top with a little hole at the other end. A couple looked like there was something inside so I put them in water. Has anyone seen these? Tried growing these?

Alison

Not sure about white lotus seeds, but I bought ornamental lotus pods in a department store floral display once, took out the seeds, sprouted them, had them growing along nicely till I prematurely set them out and something ate them!!!

alzypelican, how did you plant your water chestnuts? I saw them at an asian store too, and was wondering how to go about planting them. Thanks.

alaskanamazon --
i had a pad sprout some baby pads from its tip when just sitting on a windowsill. i've also grown them by putting the end of the pad that used to be attatched to its mother plant in the soil, the rest of the pad sticking out (like any cutting). they are not very cold-hardy; maybe to 28 degrees or so...

Popcorn! Don't know about the microwavable, but the old fashion type in a bag, like Jolly Time or Orville Reddenbacher is plantable too, but remember, you either have to pollinate on your own or have a big enough field of them that they'll pollinate traditionally.

Here is a link that might be useful: Our Garden

I've grown nopale cactus pads (prickley Pear) in my yard. I just root-toned them and stuck them in the soil, the stem end down about an inch or so in the ground with a little stick to help hold it up. pretty much left it alone and after a few weeks it started to grow roots and new branch "pads"

In the end my dog decided I didn't need this plant growing in my yard and rearanged the garden. Keep meaning to try again one of these days.

I am trying to save seed from different kinds of winter squash. Tonight we had a varity I hadn't tried before called "Carnival"It was just the right size for myself and my husband. It was delicious. Hope the seed doesn"t dissapoint me!

one of our friends told us instead of planting in two or 3 rows for the corn, plant in a circle, thats what they do, and their garden turns out fine, soooo that's what we are gonna do this year. i think it'll get everyone talking!! **giggle giggle** of course we live in a small town on a big ol corner lot!!! close to a popular church in this town so it'll be funny!! :')) they'll for sure think i lost it!! i got ta the 3rd set of leaves on my mango, i'm sooo happy and more are peeking out!! including some on the mid half of the stem, to get mine growing i put them in a 1 ltr bottle of peat moss and watered it and i punched a hole in it so i could close it that way, not to tape it, they LOVED that!! sprouted in no time!! but i pryed the outer shell loose carefully and put only the seed in, :'))

I really enjoyed myself at the sway. It was my first one and I met a lot of new people and it was really nice meeting people that are just really friendly. I also want to thank the ones for the specific plants that I asked for I will really enjoy them, I appreciate it. I hope to keep in touch and who knows, maybe meet somewhere and have a soda or for those who drinks coffee, coffee. See you on the web, Wanda

tamarind...from tamarind candies (you can find them in asian stores) that have the seeds in the middle. Some asian stores also sell fresh tamarind. but the candied ones or the ones in cartons grow very quickly..don't really need to pay attention to them they sprout pretty fast. I've planted some before but they died because I didn't water them for weeks. I was hoping I could use them for bonsai.

How did this thread end up here?

Is there a website or email group that continues with this thread: I've read this thread both here and in the frugal forum, and since I noticed the person in the frugal forum really wanted the thread to stop, and both have been inactive for a few years... I imagine folks don't want to restart here, but I'm interested in a handful of plants, not mentioned here, that I imagine could be grown from pieces of grocery store vegetables, like:
a. broccoli from a bit of stalk?
b. belgian endives from their stalks( since lettuce and cabbage work from their stalk)?
c. kale, collard, mustard greens that don't end in just a leaf tip, but are still connected, thus have about a 1/2 inch to an inch of stalk --would that grow?
d. how about brussel sprouts bought on their stalk, would the stalk grow brussels if planted?
e. will a turnip or rutabega root grow if you plant the greens with 1/2 inch of stalk, or even if you just plant that course stalk with no greens?

Again, I'm just listing my curiousities here, but I don't expect the thread to be reopened and my questions answered, --I'd just like to be referred to a website or email list that specificly focuses on this if you found out about one.
Thanks, ~Diana

I know it's nine years later, but this post is so good, I keep it on my website for others to see.

After nine years, I learned something too. Your pineapple experiment did probably work. They simply don't look any different after 3 months. Only after I gave up watering mine, and then tried to throw it away the following spring, did I disover roots were growing. Small roots, but roots. lol

I got the idea for the pineapple from you. If you want to see the directions I gave on how to do it, it's the next page from the link below. It's called "The Potting Bench."

So, even if you and I were unsuccessful, this is still a great idea. ;)

Here is a link that might be useful: The link to this on my website

Ginger is a bulb. I just buried it in potting soil and it grew. Unfortunately, it's a tropical plant.

To bring this back to bogs, I've long thought of buying whole cranberries and planting them.