Growing veg from supermarkets

[possum]

What have you sucessfully grown from stuff you bought originally as food from supermarkets.

In the past I have tried these sucessfully

Chickpeas I got to sprout
mung beans (but everyone does)
Other assorted beans
Just got some ginger sprouting
Got an avocado coming up
Pumpkin
Butternut squash
Marrow
Coriander
dill

Shortly going to plant some cherry stones
Quince pips

Has anyone had any success with quinoa from the bags you buy? I fancy growing some for the chickens
I am also going to see if I can get some cardamom seeds to germinate, although it hasn't been reported to flower in NZ, I think we might just have the microclimate here to do it
I have also just seen some photos of how to grow pinapples by pulling the tops off, so going to give that a go with the next one I get

I find that using the seed from foodstuffs is a lot cheaper than buying packets of seeds

[Cornelian]

Mint and potatoes (very successfully). I haven't tried anything else - might try pumpkins one day.

[possum]

mint? how did you get that to take, I have only ever taken it from root cuttings?
Pumpkins are really easy to take, they have a very high germination rate.

[Wombat]

ginger, Jerusalem artichokes, sweet potato, potato........

Nev

[possum]

oh year artichokes forgot about them, just planted a whole load a couple of weeks ago.

About sweet potatoes, they are very common here, along with yams and chokos, but how do you grow them, it seems a waste to buy such a huge veg and chuck it in the ground. Can you cut them up like you can potatoes as long as there is an eye in each section?
I have bought some thing which are sold as yams, but I have never seen anything like them before, they are small, about 2 inches long, and look a bit like a red maggot, I was thinking about planting these and see what happens.

[ohareward]

Hi Possum. Yams look like large huhu grubs. They come in various colours. They have a long growing season. The stalks/leaves grow to about 400-500mm and flop all over. Tying them up does not help. When you harvest them make sure you dig up ALL of them as they just keep coming year after year. They are worth growing though. I grew 4x2metre rows last year, but I bought them from a garden place.

Robin

[possum]

Hi Possum. Yams look like large huhu grubs. They come in various colours. They have a long growing season. The stalks/leaves grow to about 400-500mm and flop all over. Tying them up does not help. When you harvest them make sure you dig up ALL of them as they just keep coming year after year. They are worth growing though. I grew 4x2metre rows last year, but I bought them from a garden place.

Robin

that sounds like the things I bought labelled as yams. In the UK what I bought as yams were things looking like this

hence why the puzzlement at red grub like things being called yams here.

the grub like yams, when do you plant them? when do you harvest them? and anything else you can tell me about them please

[possum]

oops that pic was bigger than I thought, but then so I what I thought yams were lol! They can be up to 30cm long to give some idea of size

[Wombat]

I just planted a small sweet potato whole.......

Oh, and I forgot - Garlic and chokos for me too!

Nev

[Seagull]

I planted chili peppers and bell peppers from the vegetables that I bought at the grocery store. They've all came up and seem to be fine. The chili's are still pretty small. I have to admit that I'm very curious to see what the plants are going to look like! I've heard that with tomatoes that you can get some odd plants if the tomatoes were from a hybrid type (like Mendel's pea experiments).

In the past I've planted an avacado and it grew well, but I couldn't plant it outisde because I was living in Seattle at the time where it's too cold and rainy.

[Andy Hamilton]

avacado - grew for a bit then died off.
Butternut squash - got a few squashes
Potatoes - Grown a few times and worked ok.
Garlic - as above.
Lemon tree - been growing for a few years now off one pip, it is now at the grand height to about a foot and a half.

[ohareward]

Hi Possum. Yams are planted in July/August. They take a year from planting to harvest. Dig a small trench about 100mm deep. Put yams in the bottom about 200mm apart. Cover over. About 300-350mm between rows. They need the usual friable, well drained soil. Water in dry periods.
When the tops start growing they tend to flop over, but will start growing upright again. I put a string fence around them to keep them from flopping onto the paths. I would plant them where they are out of the way, as they are in a long time. Harvest when tops die off.
Cook them the same as for kumara/sweet potato.

Robin

[the.fee.fairy]

Garlic
Onions
Potatoes
Pumpkin
Butternut Squash
Chillis
Sweet peppers
Lemon/orange trees (still not got a clue, and i won't til they fruit!)

Tried and Failed:

Avocado (am i the only person that can't get them to grow?!)
Turmeric
Ginger
Pineapple (although, a bloke i work with has 2 that have been going for about 6 months!!)
Cherries (but...i planted them at the wrong time, so i'll plant some in Spetember).
Apple


Any hints for what to randomly plant next?

Possum: you need to let your cherry stones freeze either naturally, or put them in the freezer for a month. They need the cold stratification to grow. Otherwise, you'll just have some earth with mouldy cherry stones in it...

Going to try at some point:
Peach
Nectarine
mango (ooh...ive got one that's just gone off. Might have to start that when i get home!)
Grapes
Anything else i can get my hands on...

Edited to Add:

2 Lychee trees!! one with green leaves, one with red leaves!

[Thomzo]

Garlic

Avocado (am i the only person that can't get them to grow?!)

No, Fee, they are quite difficult. I leave them with their bottoms sitting just in water. You have to top up the water so that they don't dry out but don't let them swim in it. Then, up to several months later, they might sprout.

I have grown loads but they always get to a certain height and then just die off. They certainly aren't hardy over here and I don't think they like being in pots.

Zoe

[ina]

Yep, I've got a pretty dead looking avocado stalk in my living room at the moment... It did have leaves last year.

The best way to get them to germinate, I've found, is - chuck them on the compost heap and forget about them! I found several little avocado plants once when I moved the old compost heap... They need a lot of heat, I think.