The answer to that is “sometimes”.
We’ve all seen those videos on social media about how you can save money and get free vegetables by saving the stumps from a head of lettuce that you’ve bought at the store and used in a salad.
The same is apparently true for spring onions and celery. I’ve put many a stump from a head of Romaine lettuce into a glass with a little water, and some of them have indeed made roots. There are a few things that you need to know, however, to make this work.
- Keep your stump in a glass in a bright place where you will see it, and change the water daily.
- As soon as you see roots sprouting from it, plant it in the ground.
- Water it regularly and if needed, put out a slug trap (shallow pan full of beer or a mix of water, flour, sugar, and yeast).
I would estimate that this works about half the time.
Sometimes the stumps don’t sprout roots, sometimes they rot in the glass, and sometimes they get devoured by animals outside. Often they bolt, which means they send up a flower and make seeds, but this is also fine. Now you have seeds to start new plants.
Onions and leeks going to seed
These leeks and onions are flowering and going to seed.
I’ve had decent success with various lettuces, using this technique. When I tried it with celery, I had less success: the plants grew back very small and then bolted, though I was still happy to try saving the seeds. I’ve also tried it with spring onions, and I’d say I got enough regrowth to use as a garnish.
After trying this out, I think it’s worth a try. At best, you’ll get a little more food or some seeds for free, and at worst, you just dig your stumps into the soil, where they’ll rot and add organic matter and nutrients. One important thing – buy organic! You don’t want to add things to your soil that are laced with pesticides.
IMG_1120
The first stage of leek and onion flowers.
Egyptian Walking Onion
The Egyptian Walking Onion looks wacky and beautiful. It makes little bulbils, not conventional seeds. I just had to include this goofy and useful plant!
Should you do it? Why not? I’ve taken great pleasure from the extra heads of Romaine that I was able to grow. It was satisfying to grow extra food from stuff that would have ended up in the compost, and these days a head of lettuce isn’t cheap!
Red Romaine Lettuce
This red romaine can be restarted from a stump.
Potted Cat
That's a funny looking plant. I don't remember planting that!
