© 2014 The National Gardening Association. All rights reserved. 18 With a carton or two and a pinch of creativity you can devise some very imaginative indoor gardens from your kitchen leftovers! Kitchen scrap gardening is when you grow plants from items you’d normally throw in your compost bucket Kids love this idea, and it’s a great way to reinforce the sustainable living concepts of recycling and reusing Plus, it’s a kick to grow new plants from old plant parts First, scout your kitchen and refrigerator for potential vegetable and fruit candidates Some of the best are sweet potatoes, avocados, and carrots Believe it or not, you can use these and many other vegetables and fruits to propagate new plants Here’s how to start your kitchen scrap garden Prepare Your Cartons Single-serving milk or juice cartons work well for kitchen scrap gardening projects Clean the cartons Then cut off the tops to make approximately 3 ½ inch tall containers Grow an Avocado Plant from a Pit It’s fun to sprout the big seed of an avocado, one that can eventually grow into a large tree when planted outdoors in a warm climate Your young avocado will be of much smaller stature, but it makes an attractive houseplant that can thrive on a windowsill for many seasons Materials Needed • 1 avocado • Toothpicks • Single-serving milk or juice carton, cleaned STEP 1. Remove the pit from an avocado fruit and run it under water to clean off any pulp Let the pit dry for a day or two STEP 2. Poke three or four toothpicks into the pit evenly around its middle Suspend the pit in the carton pot with the broad end of the pit pointing downward and the narrower end pointing upward by resting the toothpicks on the rim of the carton Add water until it covers the bottom inch of the pit Add more water as necessary as evaporation causes the water level to drop STEP 3. Place the pot in a warm spot with bright light, but not in direct sun Then wait for roots and shoots to emerge Cool! But this project does take some patience It may take a month or more for roots and shoots to appear STEP 4. Once a shoot with leaves appears, move your plant to a spot that gets lots of direct sun; a south facing window is best When the young plant is about 6 inches tall, cut it back to 3 inches to encourage strong roots to form STEP 5. When the plant has formed new leaves again and a good root system has developed, replant the pit in in a new, larger pot filled with potting soil, leaving the top half of the seed exposed above the soil level Be sure the pot has drainage holes in the bottom STEP 6. To keep your avocado plant thriving, give it lots of sun and keep the soil evenly moist but never soggy Fertilize regularly in spring and summer with a balanced houseplant fertilizer Pinch back the shoots to encourage bushy growth Kitchen Scrap Gardening