Bringing green onions scraps to life

by Learning Lead – Elisabeth Huang

One of the first things I learned to grow successfully when I was living in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, in an adorable little home but with little growing space was green onions. With little space to grow my little green friends, I filled my small green pot with some soil and made some space for the roots of my green onions to snuggle comfortably into.  With a bit of sunshine, a bit of water, and some love, they really grew! I was overfilled with joy that they grew! For someone who may not be the best at keeping all my plants alive, I was not only able to witness the beautiful growth of these green onions, but was able to cut some up and sprinkle them on top of a brunch meal that I invited a few friends over for.

Recognizing that I had little experience in growing edibles, I wasn’t sure if the other food scraps that I attempted to grow would work until maybe a few months into the project. So, I figured I would share one of the food scraps that I had experienced regrowing on my learning journey to reduce food waste; green onions. 

Here are the steps I took to regrow green onions:

1. After cutting off the bottom of the green onion stem, I placed the remaining white bulbous 1-to-2-inch(es) portion, with the roots intact, in a small container filled with some water. I filled enough water to cover at least the roots of the white bulbous portion of the plant without submerging the whole plant in water. The white bulb should be placed in a manner that it is able to stand strong and mighty with the others vertically in the container. *Tip: If the water gets a bit cloudy, change the water!*
2. I placed the container not too far from the window.
3. I left the green onions in water until I noticed that the stem was about a few inches tall before moving it outside. 
4. Please note that you do not need to grow your green onions outside, but I was curious to see how my green onions will do if I were to plant some outside. As a result, I had some green onions growing from the container and some green onions growing in the soil outside.
5. Once the roots were about a few centimetres long, I took the green onions into my garden.
6. When I found a place in the garden for my green onions, I used my fingers to poke holes in the soil.
7. I gently stuck the root of the green onion into each hole with a bit of the stem sticking out, and covered it with soil to ensure that my green onions wouldn’t fall over.
8. Given that my green onions weren’t too far from my mum’s plants, my mother kindly watered them when she watered her plants as well. On rainy days, my little green scallions were able to enjoy some rainwater.

While I had some green onions growing from a small container of water and some growing from the soil, I noticed that the green onions fared better when they grew outside in the soil than in the small container of water. While the green onions in water were able to also grow long shoots, the shoots were thinner than those grown in soil.

Aside from growing green onions, I also learned how to make green onion pancakes by adapting a recipe I found online. I will be producing an online resource of all the various meals I was able to prepare from the edibles I was able to grow, so stay tuned if you are interested in learning how to make  green onion pancakes.