I've spent far too much cash through the years buying pretty plants to liven up my livingspace. I do okay (but not great) with outdoor things, but other than some aloes and other succulents, I've killed everything I've tried to raise indoors. So I thought I'd try growing some free ones from my groceries. So far I've found how-tos for
avocado pits
carrot tops
orange seeds
ginger root
garlic cloves
sweet potatoes

Are there others? Any tips?
I know its silly, but I'd like something green around and certainly can't justify buying something else so I can kill it.

not free but what about a peace lily? that's the only plant I can manage. if you forget to water them they wilt (so they pretty much remind you to water them) but then perk up after being watered.

http://preschoolerstoday.com/resources/articles/indoorgardening.htm

this site has some fun ideas.....

Tawnya

where do you live? I think i could mail you a spider plant baby...

that would be free to you...

also beans :D supposedly they're easy, my mom's preschool (back when she taught there anyway) grew 'em

I have managed to keep a spider plant that was and offshoot of my moms for 6 months now. I've always been terrible with plants. I have a black thumb! Anyway this inspired me to get a tiny little jade plant and an African violet for my sunny kitchen window. So far so good. :)

Thanks for the ideas!

Also try mint... if one of your neighbors has some ask for a bit... it grows like wild fire and is almost impossible to kill!! Trust me many who have had it spread and take over their flower beds will attest to that hehehe.

Also try mint... if one of your neighbors has some ask for a bit... it grows like wild fire and is almost impossible to kill!! Trust me many who have had it spread and take over their flower beds will attest to that hehehe.


ARGGGGGGGH! MINT!!! We had it growing all over in our yard in Utah and even roundup didn't kill some of it. When dh would mow the lawn you could smell the fresh cut mint mingled amoungst the cut grass......

Tawnya

My neighbor has free plants behind her house right now. :) Unfortunately it's because they are about to bulldoze the whole area for the new townhomes going in. Sigh.

We grew a sweet potato plant from some old sweet potatoes, but my dd planted it with dh in among my bromeliads and uh, I pulled it up thinking it was a weed. Doh! I killed it. But it was growing very nicely with total neglect before I found it!

Go for it. So far this year I have only managed to kill a rosemary plant and the sweet potato plant. LOL!

do you have any friends who would give you a cutting of one of theirs?

i kill houseplants too, but I can keep a golden Pathos alive, even if i forget to water for 2 months :juggle: and i hear jade plants are also quite hardy.
my sister has a prayer plant that is pretty cool but it's afraid of her kids and will only open up in the evening about half an hour after her kids are in bed LOL

air fern??

air fern??

I did have one of those for awhile years ago. It was okay until my brother knocked the pocket thing it was living in off the wall. They do have a hard time here though because of the total lack of moisture in the air but I'll look into one.
I'll have to try some mint-- I love it in stuff like greenbeans-- yummy!

I honestly don't have friends IRL-- well not any that own plants :) (men in their early twenties don't worry about decor much lol)

you could try on freecycle. maybe post a "wanted" for clippings/and or plants. lots o fpeople get ris of larger plants if they are moving out of town. and i bet lots of those people have clippings they could give you.

I'm getting ready to plant a pineapple top. Here's the info:

http://www.yougrowgirl.com/grow/save_pineapple.php

hth,
Rebecca

Another safe bet would be Orchids ... of course they are not free unless you have a friend with an orchid and it forms a new plantlet.

All that orchids really need is light and a spritz once and a while and a good dunk of their roots once and a while. My mom has TONS of them .. which she started my grandmother on them when she gave her a few plantlets.

If i ever get a green house or a bigger house of my own i am DEFINATELY getting some orchid seedlings !! There is a place in florida that sells hybrids and known species seedlings 20-30 in a vile i would love to get a few of those. They say that the sucess rate to i think its 3 years is about 50%, but it would definately be worth it for me. I also want to get a vanilla Orchid ( those are the same ones which produce the vanilla seed pods we use to make vanilla)

I have a black thumb, too, and I have the best success with the kind you grow in water. It's easy to see it needs water when the water is right there :rolleyes: .You can grow sweet potatoes in a little dish of water, and the vines grow like crazy. Those bamboo sticks are nice, too. I did an avocado seed, and it did great til it was 18 inches tall and I transfered to a pot. Didn't do so great then :rolleyes: .

When I was looking into betta fish, to do the thing where they have a plant up top and a betta fish on the bottom, they said the kind of plants that grow in water are the kind with white roots, the soft fleshy white ones. I never did the bettas cause I found out you had to feed them bloodworms or something to keep them healthy. That was it for me!

I have grown mint in water, coleus in water, various unnamed plants from various sources in water, and they all did well. It was when I tried to put them in dirt that I bombed.

My poor kids would love a nice garden to grow things, but I did not inherit my mom's plant talent, and I kill everything :rolleyes:

Murali

What kind of climate does mint like? Does it need a lot of water? I live in the high desert.

I have no idea. I have a jungle in my house. The key is just to continue watering them. If I water them they grow. They need more water in the summer, less in the winter. Heck some of them don't even thrive off of natural sunlight and still do okay. When they get too big, transfer them to a bigger pot.

Okay this will sound awful, but it is completely true, Home Depot guarantees their plants for one year. You can buy some plants and if they die you can take them back within the year (just keep your receipt). I used to work there and my DH still does. It is definetly a good way to not waste money, because you can always get it back if you don't succeed.

So I tell dh about this, and he says But won't that be a little embarrassing for you, Hon? You'd be taking them all back :rolleyes:

Oh, shut up, dear.

LOL

Murali

ChantingMama ~ Betas under plants do not take much food .. and instead of feeding then blood worms ( which as part of their diet can make their colors bolder) you can buy special beta food .. which it seems expensive for a small container but one pellet once a day or every other day( depending on if that pellet is still in there), because they will eat the dead matter off the roots of the plant. Over feeding them can cause the water to get icky and kill the fish, but if you feed them less then the plant roots will absorb all the waste from the fish and the fish will eat the dead plant matter.

( Psssssst~ i instead of getting beta pellets get fish flakes that are for colorful tropical fish, it's less expensive. I also got blood worms and krill, but i had beta and Fancy tailed guppies in a regular tank)

I have a avocada plant. It helps if the fruit is really rotten. The seed inside is often split by then. I have not had much getting the closed ones to open up as easily. California Avocados. I don't know about the Florida type. I thought they were gross.