Here's my current stash of spring onions, leeks and celery, "regrowing" in jars of water on my kitchen window shelves:
As I've pointed out before, sadly you can't just keep regrowing these indefinitely, which is obvious when you consider nature and entropy and all that, but I wonder if there are any "hacks" I could employ to stretch out the afterlife of these sprout little greens. Like how you can add bleach to their water to keep cut flowers fresher for longer, or something like that, but obviously not quite like that. I don't really fancy eating leeks grown in bleach. I think about this sort of thing a lot.
Older specimens gradually start to thin away, sprout less enthusiastically, and eventually just give up, returning to the compost from whence they came.
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| Spring onions, after about 4 weeks in a jar of water. |
More recent acquisitions, by comparison, are thicker and more vibrant:
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| More recently jarred spring onions (about one week). |
I could just plant them back in some soil, but I have tried that before and not much came of it. What I'm interested in is building a completely "closed loop" of free food generation, but this is probably impossible. Perhaps aquaponics may provide some insights. It's a fascinating idea. Aquaponics is hydroponics plus fish. The fish contribute and process nutriients in the water, which feed the plants, which release nutrients into the water that benefit the fish. Or something like that. It all gets very scientific. Perhaps not something you can achieve on a windowsill.
Anyway, in the meantime I've regrown enough spring onion greens to fill a small jar of salt water which I can now keep sealed and allow to ferment properly. This from about 12 spring onions, which as we've seen have probably reached their peak. Not much but it's something: one more jar of free, well preserved food. Useful for soups, stews, snacks and sandwiches. Onwards!
Related posts
Zero Waste Eating is Good for You
More Fun With Food in Jars
How to Re-grow Leeks
Home Grown Green Breakfast Stir Fry
Give (Lacto-Fermented) Peas a Chance
Grow Your Own Meals Indoors, Forever and Ever?
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Have you considered growing everlasting kale, which is supposed to last for 10 years. I bought 5 stems on ebay and they were just 4-5 in pieces of stem. I planted them in pots of compost and now have 5 plants, one of which is about 4ft high. I can let you have some bits of stem.
ReplyDeleteThat's a very kind offer! I've never heard of these before.
ReplyDeleteNo problem. Send your address to gporter16@aol.com. gwen765
DeleteClosed loop of free food generation - can do, known as a 'garden';)
ReplyDeleteSpring onions - when you plant them in the ground, do they grow and then eventually go to seed? That's what mine do when I plant them. Spring onions tend to self-seed quite prolifically in my garden, so i really do get endless spring onions..
Yeah, I'm thinking about how to create a "closed loop" in a non-garden environment. Which I admit, is probably impossible... :)
DeleteI think a real closed loop requires the presence of chickens or cows for manure - ref Simon Fairlie,Angus Soutar :)
ReplyDelete