·        A yam (or sweet potato) from the produce aisle (canned ones won’t work – we tried! Kehehehe) placed, pointy end down, into a glass of water, should start growing roots and shoots in a week. Make sure the water is always around, at least, one third of the yam. If your glass is bigger then your yam, stick four toothpicks around the middle of the yam, so it holds it up in the glass. Change the water in the glass every three or four days, or it will get beary stinky and the yam will rot. Yucky!!! In six weeks, the vine should be about a foot long, so plant it in a container that won’t crowd the roots and place it in a sunny place where it can continue to grow. It is a vine, so will get beary long with pretty flowers. If it isn’t growing within three weeks, something went wrong. Try again. We did.

·        Do you eat fresh lemons or oranges? Do they have seeds? Gather all the seeds and soak them in warm water over night. Poke holes into a container of soil to your first joint on your finger, and drop them in the holes. Sow all the seeds, because not all will grow. Cover the holes carefully, so you don’t push the seeds around, and water the pot until it trickles out the drainage hole in the bottom of the pot. Lemons and oranges grow in the tropics, so they need lots of sunlight, damp, but not soggy soil, and a warm place to live. They should sprout in two weeks. If they don’t, try it again. Give each plant its own pot, and, to keep them from getting too big to carry around, prune the branches that are getting too big. They make good gifts, too! If you don’t live where it’s warm all year round, bring in your lemon or orange trees in the winter, but remember to give them a beary sunny, but not beary hot, location.

·        Prickly Pear pads

·        Passion Fruit

·        If you have a place for a beary, beary big flower, save some of the sunflower seeds the next time you see some for birds, or the next time you eat salt free non-roasted sunflower seeds. Ask the deli counter person or the pastry chef, if they have one, two, or five gallon containers leftover from pickles or frosting. (Some give them away for free.) Sow the seeds right below the surface in the container, and, when they grow as big as your paw (or hand), re-pot them into their own separate container. They like growing alone. Here’s the sunflower we grew.

·        Does your supermarket sell fresh herbs in the produce aisle? Take some home, pull off enough of the leaves on the bottom, so no leaves are under water when you put them in a glass. Cut the stem on an angle, so it can suck up enough water to keep it alive, and, right after cutting the stems, drop them into the glass of warm water. (Warm water helps them last longer.) When you change the water every three or four days, give them cool water, and keep checking the bottom of the stems to see if they are growing roots. If the roots grow longer then an inch, and there are several roots on the bottom, transplant them into a small pot of soil that has a hole in the bottom for drainage. Water it enough that the water comes out the hole, and then place the pot of herbs in a sunny location.

Did you notice that we haven’t told which herbs to use? We know this works for basil and mint, but we’re pretty sure it works for many other herbs too. Try any herb you want, and let us know which ones worked for you. We’ll let everyone know what you’ve grown, and, if you have your own web site, we’ll link your site with your information, so everyone can find out who you are! We like pictures too, so, you can include a picture of your herb and you, if you have one to send to us.

Here’s a link for a whole bunch of other plants you can start from your grocery store.

Multicolor Queen Anne's Lace Bouquet