Here’s an easy how-to tip to save money growing your own green onions in the house. It’s easy to plant and grow fresh green onions and they make a great topping for many kinds of foods!
Plant And Grow Green Onions To Use In The House
We love green onions around here and I’ve often grown them in the garden! Even though we are moving, I decided to throw some green onion sets in a pot and save some money. A bag of green onion sets cost $1.49 for 80. A bunch of green onions in the store costs over $1.00. Once they start growing you can harvest several batches of green onions and save a lot of money!
Just put a few onion sets one inch apart in the bottom of your pot.
Cover with soil, water and set in a sunny window. In a week you will have a great bunch of green onions to start enjoying! -Tawra
Carmen says
May 2, 2011 at 12:31 pmDid you know you can replant the root ends when you cut them off to use the tops? They will then regrow into new onions, thereby giving you a never-ending supply!
Grizzly Bear Mom says
May 2, 2011 at 2:09 pmCan you just cut off the tips, leave them to grow, and use the tips like herbs without needing to replant?
Naryagirl says
May 3, 2011 at 12:08 pmYes, you can just leave them in the ground. We regularly plant our onions and just clip the tops for fresh use, like chives on potatoes, etc. Just don’t cut to the ground. You can do this with garlic too. Then just harvest your bulbs at the end of the season.
Haley says
May 3, 2011 at 2:47 pmI have three glasses of water (sitting in a pretty planter) in my kitchen window with bulbs that I had from my garden last year. I had used the top then dropped the bulbs into the water. I put more water in the glasses weekly and have a never ending supply of green onions. When needed I just snip one off near the bulb. Pretty to look at too, especially during the winter when nothing is green outside.
Busy Beekeeper Mom says
May 3, 2011 at 9:58 pmGinger will also work well planted in buckets. We love ginger in Asian foods, tea, even candied etc, but it is too expensive to buy at the store. So we grow our own, from store bought pieces,just as you can with horseradish, and the onions that are topic of the day 🙂
If you missed buying sets, you can get plenty of green onions to grow for a window garden or buckets by buying a bag of the little round onions they sell for soups etc & plan them.
As far as ginger, which is so high in the stores, now (spring) is a great time to find ginger that is getting live looking nub-sprouts on it in the stores, which means it is ready to grow. Might even be able to get a discount on it if you ask.
Ginger is easy to grow too. It likes rich, light soil, like potting mix (easy!). Plant just below the surface, and keep moist. It loves dappled shade, and not get too hot, so it is great for a window that does not have full bright sun on it, or only gets north sunlight.
Also pretty in a bucket under a tree. Does not compete well with tree roots – needs a well drained container.
After about 6 months,or when it packs the planter, you can lift it, take what you want, and replant the leftover pieces spread out again with room for them to expand again, like iris bulbs.
Or you can just poke around and harvest new tubers from it by snapping them off & leave the patch to grow. You can also use the long fragrant grass like tops, chopped like onion tops, but ginger-y.
Bees will also work ginger flowers, and I always wondered what honey from hives placed in a commercial ginger plantation would taste like….
I believe the delicate flowers are edible too. The plant has a refreshing ginger-y smell when brushed against. Nice, luxurious, easy herb to propigate. Looks a lot like lemongrass, which is also easy to grow once started. Take both up before any frost, or you have to start over.
Donna says
July 4, 2011 at 6:25 pmI love the idea of the ginger planting. I am going to try it!
Pat in Kitchener says
July 5, 2011 at 8:49 amWhat a timely topic! I was just given 5 multiplier onion bulbs yesterday, I was going to plant them in the garden, but now I think I will keep 3 and plant in a plant pot in the house. Also I buy the smallest little branch thing of ginger I can when I want some, but didn’t know how to keep the rest, so i’ll try and plant that too.
Thanks for the great tips.
KarenHoward says
August 9, 2011 at 10:51 amThanks for sharing How -To plant Ginger.I also buy a small piece when I want some for a recipe,but I’m going to try to plant some now!.
Nasreen Kabir says
April 10, 2012 at 9:16 pmGreat ideas thanks
gwen says
April 19, 2012 at 10:42 amHave you added any to you’re dining on a dime lately. I’ve had my copy for several years. I love your cookbook.
Jill says
April 19, 2012 at 11:53 amGwen the last we added was the cleaning section and pretty for pennies so if you have that in your book it is still the same.
Lorene Terwilliger says
April 19, 2012 at 12:19 pmHeard somewhere you can cut about an inch or less off of a celery stalk and put that root in water. I tried it and it grows wonderfully. A never ending celery for free!
Linda Craig says
April 19, 2012 at 9:31 pmHi Lorene,
What part of the celery are you putting into water?
Is it the cut off piece or the stalk?
Thanks
Lorene Terwilliger says
May 15, 2012 at 8:27 pmHi Linda,
Cut the bottom of the celery stalk and stand in water but rinse occasionally every week or so. I also had some success with leeks which I use all the time and now grow it so I can always have it on hand.
Sandi P says
May 16, 2012 at 11:04 amI tried that with the onion sets and after 2 weeks I now have more green onions than I can use! I took a few of the many coffee cans we have around the shop and planted in those. These are the cardboard coffee cans with the metal bottom and top rim. I just used a triangular can opener (I think it used to be called a church key) and put 3 drainage holes on the bottom of the sides and then put the plastic lids on the bottom to keep the metal from rusting on the patio. I’ve got to try all these other tips, too. Celery and ginger and onions, oh my!
Tawra says
May 16, 2012 at 9:59 pmIt’s crazy isn’t it!
Kay M. Diers says
April 6, 2013 at 1:19 pmI have planted the nubs of store-bought organic lettuce, non-organic celery, non-labelled leeks & home-grown fennel in plastic pots with good clean dark black soil (fresh from Pine Products of Waconia, MN or soil from backyard of our 1916 home). Keep the dirt slightly moist but not soaked ever. In 2- 3 days you will see the start of your lettuce and celery. In 8 – 10 days you can pick your lettuce again. In 4 weeks you can have a good handful of lettuce. The rest listed above take a little longer but they come along. The leeks grow to be like the store-bought one. My mouth is watering for everything.
Phyllis osburn says
April 12, 2013 at 6:03 amFantastic ladies!!!! Going to try many of these ideas. Phyllis
Magdalen says
April 17, 2014 at 1:30 pmLovely useful comments!
Dear Busy Beekeeper Mom, Thank you so much for the info re.ginger.
julie says
April 17, 2014 at 9:12 pmWhat awesome info on restarting different veggies!!!
As I live by myself…these ideas sound exactly what I need for amounts that aren’t wasteful. I’m going to try a bunch of them!!! THANKS!!