Broccoli-lovers won’t want to miss out on this incredibly simple hack which allows you to transform one supermarket broccoli into a crop of new vegetables to enjoy
Broccoli fans will be delighted to discover there’s an easy way to grow your very own nutritious crop at home – all you need is to take a trip to the supermarket.
There are a huge host of benefits to growing your own fruit and veg at home. Not only will it save you money on buying produce from the supermarket, it also means you can avoid spraying your plants with all kinds of nasty pesticides. Plus, broccoli is a staple vegetable enjoyed with a huge variety of meals, from stews to salads.
So, how can you grow your own broccoli at home? Expert gardener Simon Akeroyd showed how you can do so with a broccoli from the supermarket.
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He recently posted a TikTok video showing how to grow broccoli from a stem. In his viral video, he instructed his followers to take a supermarket broccoli and “cut off the stem.”
Then he showed himself cutting two centimetres off the base of the beheaded stem. He then placed it in a small glass jar filled with water. “Leave on the windowsill,” he continued, “and it grows new leaves and shoots. And small new florets.” He then showed a close up of his mini-broccoli beginning to form.
Once it has begun to sprout, Simon says to plant your broccoli in the soil so that it can “continue growing”. Once you’ve done this you can now “enjoy your delicious bonus leaves, shoots and florets.”
The comments were quick to praise Simon for the tip. “Wow now I feel sad for all the broccoli stems I’ve thrown away,” one commenter wrote. “Haha true,” another wrote, “I guess we gotta give those stems a second chance huh? Who knew they could be so useful!”
The one caveat is that broccoli typically takes between eight to 12 weeks to start cropping after being planted outside. So you may have to wait before harvesting your veg.
If you’re interested in growing more vegetables and fruit from supermarket produce, you can also do the same with avocados. All you need is an avocado seed.
Although, be warned, growing an avocado is not quite as straightforward as a broccoli. Avocados needs lots of moisture, warmth and sunlight to grow.
You can also turn the ends of your celery into a whole new celery plant. Simply place the ends in water or soil and after several weeks they should begin to grow into a new plant.