Dig In!: 12 Easy Gardening Projects Using Kitchen Scraps

by Kari Cornell, Jennifer S. Larson (Photographer)

Overview

Grow your own fruits and vegetables from nothing but kitchen scraps! Rather than throwing away leftovers from food in your kitchen, you can use them to grow more. Learn how to turn a single sweet potato into a pot full of them. Grow a salad from the end bit of lettuce and a lemon tree from a single seed. Several of these projects require nothing more than a jar, a windowsill, and a few pieces of food that would otherwise end up in the trash or compost. Step-by-step drawings and photographs make it easy to follow along, and fun recipes will help you enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781728477848
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/03/2023
Pages:	64
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.13(d)
Age Range:	9 - 10 Years

About the Author

Kari Cornell is a freelance writer and editor who lives in South Minneapolis with her husband and two young boys. When she's not working or spending time with her family, she loves to cook, tinker in the garden, knit, or run. She feels fortunate that she's been able to combine many of the activities she likes to do in her free time with her day job. Cornell is the author of several cookbooks for children, including Cooking the Turkish Way and Cooking the Indonesian Way. She is the co-author of Growing with Purpose: Forty Years of Seward Community Cooperative

Jennifer S. Larson has written many nonfiction books for young readers.

Table of Contents

Introduction 4

Chapter 1 Growing Up 10

Grow Romaine Lettuce from Stubs 12

Autumn Salad 14

Start Your Own Celery Plant 15

Growing Green Onions or Leeks 17

Potato Leek Soup 19

Chapter 2 Putting Down Roots 20

Sprout Lemongrass from the Stalk 22

Lemongrass Ice Cream 24

Starting Herbs from Cuttings 25

Basil-Parsley Pesto 27

Plant a Pineapple 28

Tropical Smoothie 31

Chapter 3 Tubers, Bulbs, and Rhizomes 32

Grow Garlic from a Single Clove 34

Garlic Bread 36

Start Ginger from a Root 37

Homemade Ginger Ale 39

Sprout a Sweet Potato 40

Sweet Potato Oven Fries 43

Chapter 4 Save Those Seeds! 44

Pepper in a Newspaper Pot 46

Making Newspaper Seedling Pots 49

Your Own Pumpkin Patch 51

Crunchy Pumpkin Seeds 56

Lemon Tree in a Pot 57

Homemade Lemonade 59

Glossary 60

Gardening Resources 61

Where to Find Supplies 62

Index 63

Editorial Reviews

"A fresh look at growing and preparing foods."—Booklist

From the Publisher

05/01/2018
Gr 3–5— Don't throw away that lettuce core or those potato ends—instead, recycle and turn them into new plants. This is a beautiful book for beginning gardeners that encourages the use of kitchen scraps and cuttings. The title is filled with projects to grow sweet potatoes, lettuce, garlic, and many vegetables and herbs. Planting zones and soil composition, as well as tools and supplies needed are covered in the planning stage. Each project is then outlined with drawings, photography, and step-by-step instructions that are easy to follow. Each section also includes recipes for using the plants that are grown. There are instructions on how to make seedling pots from old newspapers and how to root stems in a glass of water. The author and the photographer are experienced gardeners and writers of children's nonfiction books, making this collection of projects even more valuable. VERDICT A fine addition to gardening collections.—Cynde Suite, Bartow City. Library. System, Adairsville, GA

School Library Journal

2018-02-03
In this companion to The Nitty Gritty Gardening Book (2015), Cornell offers 12 gardening projects for preteens, focusing here on the regenerative power of plants and their parts.An introduction provides garden basics: the needs of plants, the role of pH, U.S. plant hardiness zones, and pollination. The four subsequent chapters are organized by type of propagation: sprouts from root ends; roots from cuttings; fostering growth from tubers, bulbs, and rhizomes; and planting saved seeds. Projects include sprouting romaine lettuce leaves, rooting herb cuttings, planting a ginger rhizome, and starting pepper and pumpkin plants from saved seeds. Ten nicely chosen (and delicious-sounding) recipes incorporate project ingredients—though most will require additional, store-bought items. Attractive photographs and clear drawings highlight step-by-step processes and the often modest growth of the propagated plants. (Cornell encourages patience; many projects require several weeks of monitoring.) A few missteps affect the overall package. State boundaries are difficult to discern on the hardiness map. While recommending organic produce (which is free of chemicals that inhibit sprouting), Cornell omits any discussion of hybrids, which, if propagated from seed, won't likely resemble the parent. Recipes lack yields and sometimes omit cautions regarding knife use.Quibbles aside, this engaging volume's strength—homing in on plants' specific regenerative properties—should spark STEM projects and home gardening fun, whether in a backyard or on an apartment windowsill. (glossary, print and web resources, supply sources, index) (Nonfiction. 8-11)

Kirkus Reviews