Supermarket Bulbs?

I was wondering how many supermarket bulbs you can buy to plant in your own gardens? I read a post where someone had bought 'edible taro' that is an actualy Elephant Ear. So, I would love to have some ideas on what I could buy as a 'grocery' item to use in my garden? I have already planted some garlic that was purchased as a grocery item and it is doing awesome! I would love any suggestions and names of items I could try. Thanks in advance for any info!
Happy Holidays!

Hi Misty, that's a hard one to answer, but onion family springs to mind, like the ordinary onion, Garlic, but I have rooted the tubers of Ginger and lemon grass, the problem is, most of the shop food bulbs and tubers we eat, are either dried, treated, or steam washed just for transport or regulations about exports etc if they come from over seas, I grow ornamental onions within my borders as they have huge purple flower-heads that look even lovely when the flowers fade, these are non edible plants but grown within other flowering plants say 3 bulbs each area, they are pretty spectacular beside pink, cream or darker purple flowers, they come back each year, sorry cant help you further, but good luck anyway, Weenel.

Always to my rescue WeeNel! I hope others will chime in and help me out here, too!
Thanks so much! :)

You can grow potatoes from potatoes (can't give you exact directions on what to do...I just know it can be done!) And most fruits you can grow from their seeds (they often won't come true from seed so you may not get the same flavor, but it can be a fun experiment)

Now that is a fun idea. I got some large pots at Lowe's today for 50 cents a piece, so I bet I could grow me some nice fruit. :) I remember now that you mention it we used to grow our potatoes as a kid from our old ones. I just wish I knew more about bulbs and tubers to know what they are, but at a buck or so a piece I guess I could always get some surprises! LOL

Supermarket ginger will grow. I've grown it more than once. It has white flowers.

Because supermarket potatoes are treated with a growth retardant most won't grow, but if you see some begin to spout in your bag of potatoes, plant those. Clearly those will grow. You can plant the whole potato or you can cut it up into pieces with at least two eyes, let the cut places heal over for a day or two, and then plant them.

Somewhere on the Tomato Forum I read that the cherry tomatoes in the market that are labeled Nature Sweet in the little mesh bags will come 99% true from seed.

Sweet potatoes will grow. You sprout them in water. When the sprouts are about 6-8" high on the part sticking out of the water, take them off, and plant them. I had no idea what part of the sweet potato you planted. I would have tried to plant them like Irish potatoes, but FarmerDill explained it to me. LOL.

Personally, I've never had any luck getting a pineapple top to sprout, but I've known people who did. My daughter tells me that planting the tops is how the growers get new pineapple plants in HI. I think it takes a couple of years before they fruit.

I know some of the herb seeds in the bottles we buy to use in cooking will grow. I just don't remember which ones, even though I've seen a list somewhere here on DG. If you have any spices that are whole seeds, you could try them.

Bell peppers and squash should work. I know pumpkins will work. My daughter dumped her pumpkin seeds, gunk and all, into my lasagna bed I have started for next spring. Couple of weeks later -- 200 pumpkin plants are coming up!

As ecrane said, they not might come true from seed if the originals were a hybrid. On the other hand, it would be fun to give it a try and sometimes the volunteers are better than the original.

I purchased tomato plants this year -- five different varieties. The very best tomatoes I had I got from a volunteer plant that came from who knows where and grew in this hard, clay soil in semi-shade. To my surprise, not only did they ripen in that shady place, but they were the best tomatoes I've tasted in years.

Because of that plant, I've given some thought to trying "supermarket" seeds just to see what would come from them. I have to wait until spring, though, as I can't have plants inside. Two of my four cats will play with the pots, tip them over, dig out the potting soil, etc. Sometimes, you just have to go with the flow -- big sigh!


Karen

I've grown avocado and pineapple with my pumpkins( kids). Clean the avocado seed well, rinse well and let air dry for a few hours. Place 4 toothpicks around the middle of the seed to support the seed halfway in a glass of water with the thicker end submerged in water. Makes a nice houseplant, but we never were able to pick avocados. In Asia, my neighbor did a similar thing with mangos, but she was using them as houseplants. For the pineapple, cut the top round crown (with the stems) off (about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick), scrape all the fruit off, then place on scraped side down on a paper towel. Place top with the towel on top of the refrigerator, after several days the scraped side should be completely dried. Then remove the lower stems about 2 - 3 leaf deep from the crown. Place the dried crown in a glass of water where the leaves are above the water line. Change the water weekly. When the crown roots are about 2-3 inches long plant in a good soil that is fast draining and organic. Voila, a pineapple plant. We had one for several years and it did produce a small pineapple.

Edited for silly punctuation error! ;0)

This message was edited Dec 18, 2007 11:58 AM

garden6,

Thanks for the pineapple growing instructions. I'm going to save them and try again. I see what I was doing wrong in my previous attempts.

I forgot about avocados. When I lived in Long Beach CA, there was a home-grown-from-seed avocado tree at the apartment house. It had never had fruit. My sister, who lived in the downstairs apartment, took over the watering chores and began to water the tree once a month. She would turn the hose on really slow and put it at the base of the tree, and let it run all night. It bloomed and fruited that year for the first time. For the next five years, the tree had hundreds of avocados every year. Oh, were they good! After we both moved out, no one watered the tree, and it never had fruit again. Most market avocados are either Haas or Fuente so they would not be very cold-hardy, but would still make a fun indoor plant.

Glen~ you are more than welcome and have fun! Ummm, I love fresh avocado grilled with onions and ginger in my salads. ( another tidbit shared by my neighbor in Asia) Wish I could grow them outside as well. ;0)

This sounds like too much fun not to at least give it a shot! I thank all of your information, and I will let you know which ones I try and how they turn out! I will just have to make sure that I take a sharpie with me so I can write it on the plastic bag what it is. Thanks again, this should be interesting! :)

Misty~ You welcome, have fun and include a little picture, pretty please!! ;0)

misty,

Love to hear how you come out with this -- at the very least you will learn something and have some fun along the way.

garden6,

I love avocados any way at all. My favorite, though, is to cut it open, take out the pit, sprinkle on salt, and get a spoon. LOL. The avocados in the store here are often not fit to eat. I had a really good one, though, the other day from Fresh Market in Birmingham. I did buy an avocado tree in a five-gallon bucket that I am going to plant out in the yard this spring. It is a variety that is hardy to 18 degrees. Hopefully, one of these days I'll have my own avocados again.

misty did you post this somewhere else also?

I will definitely post pics if anything works! LOL

Yes, I posted this on the Bulb Forum as well. :)
Shoot, I coulda played on that and made you think you were seeing things! LOL

lol! i thought all my postings disappeared. i looked on midwest forum but didn't see anything.

Well I could have just played this up and had way too much fun! LOL
I did have DH save me the seeds out of the Red & Green Bell Peppers so I can try them! :)

Hello all,

If you have a local Asian Market go take a look.
It's a GOLD MINE. I'm glad to see other people have the
same "problems" that I have.

For avocados and mangos - the plastic bag method works in much less time than toothpicks and water.

happy "grocery shopping"

We live in a little Podunk Town, so no Asian Markets. :( I love Mangos, so I may have to try that one, too! I sent him to the store today, so no bulbs or nothing yet other than my pepper seeds! LOL

misty,

My next-door neighbor used to plant pepper seeds from the supermarket peppers. He would get the ones that were marked down and looking overripe and ratty. The seeds in those sprouted every time and were a lot cheaper, too.

germinator,

Oh, yes, an Asian market. Terrific idea! Tell me how you do the plastic bag method for the avocados. I just put one in water with the toothpicks yesterday, but it's difficult to keep water on the bottom of the pit.

Hello glendalekid,

The plastic bag method I was referring to is when you wet (CLEAN) peat moss, squeeze it until it is almost dry, put it into a zip seal bag with your seed, press most of the air out of it (not to where your peat moss is compacted) and seal it up to go on your heat mat. I know - that confused me with the way it is worded. Sorry. :)

To germinate seeds this way EVERYTHING must be CLEAN.
I mean your hands, the bag, the water, the peat moss (I use Jiffy pellets for this) must be clean or you WILL have rotten seeds.

At first I was worried that the fertilizer in Jiffy pellets would cause a problem, but I have done this a lot and haven't run into any problems that I could say weren't from old seeds (I could privately exchange seed dealer info. with anyone who is interested). No loose lips allowed! :)

good luck

Oh goody, I hope mine work then! I LOVE bell peppers, even though they don't seem to like me!
germinater, you are just too funny! LOL

Glen~ very interesting about the pepper.

Germinater~ thanks for that seed dealer info, no loose lips here!!! I will have to try that one this Christmas break with the pumpkins. The avocado is calling me! ;0)

Misty~ looks like you have alot of reporting to do!

Am I suppose to report if I fail on ALL of them, though? LOL

misty,

You won't fail on all of them or even most of them. Some of them are very, very easy.

Lets hope I can make all of them work and I will get a good report card! :)

Misty ~ you are a gardener, if at first you don't succeed SOW, SOW, SOW and SOW again!! Sorry , couldn't resist, LOL! ;0)

I will be SOW SOW SOWING away! LOL

;0)

garden6,

The plastic bag method is not a good way to start pumpkins.

Taro root- that I tried and needed to use bottom heat and never got it quite going, but I think it would have done great. A similar lookingthing called malanga was in that store too.
Yes, the Asian market if you have one, has lots of unusual things. My husband was given fresh lychees to try and those did sprout for me.

misty- thats the second time you mentioned those 50 cent pots. I had just about recovered from my Lowes Clearance addiction til you brought that up. Darn, I don't have time to look!! or do I?......

Germinater~ the pumpkins are my children! You're definitely right, plastic is not good for starting "pumpkins" I refer to them as pumpkins as it reminds me not to expect adult behavior nor reasoning from my children. Children are prone to childish behavior that requires correction, training but seldom severe pruning! ;0)

LOL You all are so funny!
Sally, there is ALWAYS time to go back and look at Lowe's for a bargain! :) These 50 cent pots didn't come with plants, but they are HUGE!

garden6,

I was wondering if you would be starting pumpkins THAT EARLY in zone 5.:)

You are right about the behavior of children.
You can't expect them to act like adults at all.
They just haven't had time to become c*** like adults. :)))

have fun with your PUMPKINS :)

Here is something fun to try, if you use green onions (scallions). DH can't eat the white part, so I chop up the green part, then stick the rooted white end in the soil. It will grow a new green top! I have only done this in the summer. If you let it grow awhile, it will form a larger 'bulb'. I don't know how well this would work indoors in the winter, or a greenhouse.

rofl! if you could just have him graze them you wouldn't have to replant.

Thanks germinater! ;0)

lol, yeah. The onions came from the store.... I was surprised they would grow after being out of the ground so long.

gonna try that one, too! :)

Misty, of all the plants mentioned here, I've had the best luck with avacado and pineapple. In order to get baby pinapples I had to cut an apple in half, lay it on the dirt and cover the plant in a plastic bag. In no time at all it sent up the cutest little pineapple. Not edible, but very adorable. I throw my avacado pits in the compost pile. I compost the lazy way, so I rarely turn the pile. Every now and then I go out to the pile and there will be avacado plants emerging from the pile. I pot them up and treat them like any other houseplant. Same "method" works well on pumpkins, tomatoes, sunflower seeds, potatoes, zucchini, onions and cantaloupes. Of course this isn't going to help you now. After reading all the replies, I'm anxious to try a mango pit. Never thought of that one! Talk with you soon.
Chris

I think this will be the neatest experiment ever! And soooooooo much fun! :)