As the weather begins changing and becoming nicer, it's safe to say summer is on its way. This also means it's prime local fruit and veggies season (my absolute favorite season)! The only thing better than buying locally sourced produce is actually growing your own fruits right at home. Here are a few ways you can repurpose your fruit (mainly berry) seeds to get a mini garden started right in your home! All you really need to get started is some pots (or any type of container), starting compost and soil mix, fruits to eat, and a trusty spray bottle!
1. Lemons
John Lemon
Our first fruit is one of my favorite summertime indulgences (I'm a sucker for a nice cup of lemonade). To get started, remove a few lemon seeds from your sliced lemon (maybe like six or seven) and rinse them under water but DO NOT dry them! Place them in a pot with soil and cover them, misting them heavily. Cut the bottom of a one or two-liter soda bottle off and place this over the center of the planted lemon seeds. Keep the pot in a warm spot inside! Here is an article I found that shows the process with a slight variation and tells you how to care for your new lemon tree! Luckily, this process actually works for any citrus plant like oranges and limes. So go crazy!
2. Strawberries
Use a toothpick to remove some of the seeds on the outside of the strawberries (there are over two hundred on each strawberry!!). Take the seeds and rinse them, and let them air dry COMPLETELY. Then, take a medium-sized pot and add pebbles from your yard to the bottom, cover them completely with soil, and brush your dried strawberry seeds on top and mist with a spray bottle. Do not add more soil on top of the seeds. Small stems with begin sprouting and you may need to transfer them to a much larger pot (like a planter!) or find a spot for them in a sunny spot in your yard! Here's a great resource I'm planning on using when I plant mine next week!
3. Raspberries
Many berries are very pricey at local supermarkets! To regrow your raspberries (which each have about one hundred seeds), you remove the seeds using a mesh strainer then rinse and dry them. Fill a container or pot with soil and add in the seeds. Mist once again (I hope you're picking up on the repetition of this step) and cover with plastic wrap. Poke holes with a toothpick and move it to a cool, well-ventilated area. A similar technique is used for blackberries, which you can read about here!
4. Tomatoes
This amazed me the most out of any other fruit (yup — tomatoes are actually berries)! You seriously take a ripe tomato and cut it in half vertically (so that one side has the green stem and the other is the "bottom" of the tomato). You then fill a pot halfway with soil, place the tomato stem side down, and cover the rest in soil. Pat the soil down and grab that every persistent spray bottle and give them a good soak. Find them a home in a warm spot (like the top of the refrigerator)! I know it sounds pretty crazy, but you can learn more here.
5. Avocados
Avocados, which are in fact a fruit (a single-seeded berry, to be exact) are one of the most popular foods right now. However, this growing process is not for the faint of heart. Growing an avocado tree takes intermediate gardening skills and a LOT of patience! You want to cut the avocado in half horizontally and remove the seed (AKA the pit) and rinse it off. Take three or four toothpicks and put them in the seed at an angle. Here's where it gets wild; you need to dangle the seed via the toothpicks over a glass nearly full of water! I'll add a picture for reference so you don't drown your avocado.
You then cut the stem in half when it's about 6-inches long and transfer it to soil once the stem regrows some leaves! Avocado prices have been all over the place lately so growing your own will help our your bank account when you're craving guacamole. I got major inspo from this website on how to start my avocado growing experience! Very similar to this process is growing a pineapple from its crown!
6, 7, 8. Cherries, pears, and apples
Remove the seeds from all of these yummy fruits, rinse and dry them, and then place them on a damp paper towel. Fold the paper towel to cover them, place in a square plastic container, and spritz them with your water. Place the container in a cozy spot in the refrigerator and wait for stems to sprout. Once this happens you can place them in pots with soil, remembering to keep them watered! Here is a guide to what fruits grow well together!
This is just a short list of possibilities to get your garden started; there are many online resources you can check out to learn how to properly grow all sorts of fruits! You can also grow herbs to make cooking more fun and always have proper seasoning on hand! Growing plants in limited spaces is very plausible for a summer project that will keep your fridge overflowing with fresh produce. Make sure you get a proper starting compost to optimize your growing. Go get yourself some locally-sourced fruits and veggies and get planting!
