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Looking for a fun, educational project for the kids or just something different for your indoor garden? Try growing plants from kitchen scraps.
We’ve all heard of soaking and rooting avocado seeds indoors. Did you know you can also grow apple and lemon trees from seed? Pineapple tops transform into attractive plants and yams create a long, handsome vine.
“In every kitchen garbage bin there is a garden waiting to be planted,” says Judith Handelsman, a Laguna Beach garden writer and author of “Gardens From Garbage: How to Grow Indoor Plants from Recycled Kitchen Scraps” (Millbrook Press, 1993).
It’s easy and fun to grow new plants with leftover fruits and vegetables. Here’s how:[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]– Apples: Apples make an attractive indoor tree. Plant several apple seeds at once — germination is not high. If possible, try various apple types. Before planting, soak apple seeds overnight in warm water.
Plant six to 12 seeds in a high quality potting soil. Press the seeds into the soil slightly and cover with a thin layer of soil. Keep moist. Apples may take a month or more to germinate, so be patient.
— Avocados: When grown indoors, avocado trees won’t fruit, but they will become large, tropical floor plants. First, wash the seed and let it dry overnight. To plant, peel off the brown outer skin. Stick four toothpicks in the center of the seed at equal intervals. Place in a jar of water with the flat side of the seed down and the pointed side up, leaving one-third of the seed in water. Store in a dark place such as a kitchen cabinet.
Roots will grow in the water and a stem will rise from the top of the avocado seed. When the stem is about 6 inches high, cut it off to half its size. Put plant back in the dark and wait another few weeks until the roots have thickened and a new stem has grown and reached about 6 inches. Bring the plant out into the light and wait for the leaves to green up.
Next, plant the avocado in soil. Be careful not to damage the roots by making a hole in the soil before sliding the plant in. Gently fill the hole with soil and tamp lightly. To encourage the avocado tree to grow full and bushy, pinch off new leaves.
For every two new leaves pinched, four should grow in their place.
— Citrus: Seeds of oranges, lemons, grapefruits, limes and tangerines are easy to grow. They will become small trees. In the right environment, which includes ample bright light, you may eventually get blooms and fruit, but that will take years.
To plant citrus, rinse seeds in warm water and soak overnight. Plant each seed 1/2 inch deep and 1 inch apart. Water and keep moist. Seeds can take a month or more to sprout. Once they emerge, place plants in the sunniest window of the house.
When plants have some foliage, encourage bushy growth by pinching off new leaves.
— Pineapple: The prickly top of the pineapple can be removed from the fruit and planted. When 4-6 years old, the plant may produce a fragrant pink or red flower, which bears a small, inedible fruit.
Cut the top off a ripe pineapple, leaving about 1 inch of fruit attached. Bury the fruit portion of the pineapple in potting soil, leaving the green crown exposed. Water well and place in a warm, sunny spot. Within one to two months the pineapple will root and begin to grow.
— Yams: Yams will grow long vines. Take an elongated yam and scrub well. Cut off one end and stick the bottom with four toothpicks at even intervals. Place in a wide-mouth jar filled with water, the cut end immersed. Vines will grow from the eyes in the upper portion of the yam.
Place yams in bright light, but no direct sun. White roots will fill the jar and purple leaves will sprout from the top. Leaves will become bright green as they grow. Always keep the jar filled with water and change the water when it becomes cloudy.

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© Julie Bawden-Davis

One of the great advantages of growing houseplants is how good they make your home look.
“It’s the details that make the difference in really pulling a home together,
and houseplants are one of those essential details,” says interior designer Michaelin Reamy, owner of Natural Color and Design in Menlo Park.
“Indoor plants make great decorator pieces,” agrees Mill Valley interior designer Stacey Lapuk. “Most furnishings and architectural details are comprised of hard surfaces and straight lines, but houseplants add softness and depth to a space.”
Houseplants make a home feel lived in, says Debbie Jorgensen, owner of Patt’s Greenhouse in Los Altos. “Plants give the indoors a comfortable, inviting feeling.”
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With their wide variety of leaf shapes, sizes, colors and textures, houseplants can be used to decorate just about any interior, and they serve a wide variety of design purposes.
“Houseplants can be used to make a room look larger,” says Lapuk. If you want to make a ceiling appear higher, for instance, put a tall, slender plant, such as Dracaena marginata, in a corner. To fill in dead corners, use a tall, bushy plant like Ficus benjamina. If you don’t have enough space for floor plants, try hanging houseplants, which often have the added benefit of flowering.
Another tactic for making rooms look larger is to place houseplants near windows where there is greenery outside, so that the indoors appears to be an extension of the outdoors.
You can also use houseplants to make large rooms look smaller. Accomplish this by bringing in a plant that is oversized for the space, which will make the ceiling feel lower, or choose a plant that grows up and then drapes. A good draping choice is the ponytail plant (Beaucarnea recurvata).
Plants can also be used to break up large living spaces and create transitions between rooms.
“If your home’s design is such that you step right into your living room when you enter your house, you can make the entry less jarring with a line of houseplants,” says Lapuk.
Plants can also be used to direct traffic flow. A pink orchid in the entryway, for instance, can lead people into a living room seating space where there is a calathea with variegated pink and green leaves.
To have success decorating with houseplants, keep these tips in mind.
— CREATE FOCAL POINTS. Houseplants — such as those that bloom — add to a room’s decor when placed in the spotlight. Rather than putting short-lived cut flowers on the dining room table, try orchids, African violets, anthuriums or plants with colorful foliage.
Other good spots for eye-catching plants are coffee tables, entryways, the foot or top of stairs, kitchen counters and fireplace mantels.
— TIE A SPACE TOGETHER. Plants can be used to create intimate spaces. Flank a sofa with flowering plants and on the coffee table add a plant with a similar color, and the whole space will feel cozy and comfortable.
— CREATE GROUPINGS. Clusters of small plants add a decorative touch to certain areas of the home such as desks, pianos, fireplace mantels, credenzas, hutches, dressers and nightstands, and in bathrooms next to sinks or on bathtub decks.
They can be placed in individual decorative pots or grouped together in a basket or larger pot. When grouping plants in a larger container, leave each plant in its own container and camouflage with moss.
Groupings look especially good if there is a combination of flowering and foliage plants. If you’re doing all foliage, choose plants with leaf colors that blend well. Herbs would be a good choice for the kitchen.
— CONSIDER PLANT STYLES. “The type of plants you choose will dictate the feeling of each room,” says Lapuk. “Some plants, like orchids, lend an elegant, sensuous atmosphere to a room, while others, such as the rubber plant (Ficus elastica), tend to give a room a more informal, heavier feeling.
“Pay careful attention to the size, weight, texture and shape of each plant and determine if it will help open up a space or make it more cozy. You’ll want heavier looking plants in a den, for instance, but a bathroom will probably call for something lighter.”
— CHOOSE YOUR CONTAINERS CAREFULLY. Except for hanging plants, pots — especially small ones — are a highly visible part of designing with houseplants. Make sure that a container’s color, design, shape, size and texture match room decor and contribute to the atmosphere you’re trying to create.
— TRY PLANT ACCENTS. There are a wide variety of accessories you can use with houseplants to make them even more decorative and to tie a decor together. These include plant sticks made of materials such as ceramic, wood and beads.
You’ll find various accents such as little birds, insects and butterflies. For the holidays, decorate with items like gourds, berries, red ribbons and small Santas.

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© Julie Bawden-Davis