I don’t know how a vegetable might earn karma points, but you can often persuade a remnant to offer a little more good with a second life!
Onions are a great example. Next time you cut open an onion, set aside the bottom bit. You know, the part with the dried-out roots still sticking out. This little piece of refuse has the potential to become not one, but several new onions. Note that this process does not work with every onion. I’m not certain of the rhyme or reason for success. Maybe it’s the time of year, the cycle of the moon, or even the individual onion that is key. To mitigate unnecessary digging and disappointment, I conduct a little test first.
Place the onion scrap in a small dish of water. Here I used a single-serve pie pan, but a jar lid or shallow bowl also works. This image was taken about five hours after setting the onion scrap in water. Look closely, and if you’ve got a winner, you’ll be able to make out a shoot beginning to form. Flip it over to find that a few new roots are developing.
I like to give the remnant a few more days to be sure. This way, I can spot them in the garden once planted. The shot below shows five days of growth. Into the ground this little bit of hopefulness goes.
Now, just watch them go. They’ll produce their lovely flower heads, and once those die back, you’ll know it’s time to harvest. The little onion scrap in this story provided one large, two medium, and one small red onion.
