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Grow Your Own

Stop Food Waste Blog

Grow Your Own

Jun 13, 2019

Stop Food Waste Blog

Salad season is upon us! Growing your own lettuces, arugula, spinach, chard, kale, endive and more can be a fun and gratifying way to reduce your wasted food this summer.

You can have the satisfaction of growing and harvesting your own food while eliminating the worry of having to store and use up the remaining parts. Marla Koss, Board Member for one of our favorite local food-waste-fighting organizations, Alameda Backyard Growers, is an excellent source of food-saving tips. We’ve found them to be inspirational, useful, and full of wit. 

If salad greens are the worst offenders for going bad in everybody's fridge, getting a pot of them started on the balcony, deck, yard, front steps, window, or some other setup would be helpful. I saw online that one can even regrow a cut lettuce when the stem end is planted in a pot of clean potting soil. Talk about being green!

Healthy soil, compost, and pots or containers with sufficeint water drainage are essential to start. 

Want to start growing some lettuce, herbs, or other veggies while at home? Visit StopWaste's Gardening Resources page to find a list of open nurseries and garden centers, as well as online gardening events.

If you don’t have space or time to grow your own lettuce, consider these tips for storing, and reviving wilted lettuce. Don’t let all those beautiful lettuces wilt and slime their way into your compost.

For more information on this partner organization, visit Alameda Backyard Growers.

Have your own tips to share? Share them with us in the comments below or by sending them to: tips@stopfoodwaste.org.