Dig In!: 12 Easy Gardening Projects Using Kitchen Scraps

by Kari A. Cornell

Grow your own fruits and vegetables from nothing but kitchen scraps! Rather than throwing away leftovers from food in your kitchen, you can use them to grow more. Learn how to turn a single sweet potato into a pot full of them. Grow a salad from the end bit of lettuce and a lemon tree from a single seed. Several of these projects require nothing more than a jar, a windowsill, and a few pieces of food that would otherwise end up in the trash or compost. Step-by-step drawings and photographs make it easy to follow along, and fun recipes will help you enjoy the fruits of your labor.

-- "Journal"

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Nature, Childrens, Food, Science, Environment

64 pages, ebook

Published January 1, 2018

Reviews

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Snagged this from my library’s Earth Day display, and am so glad I did. Very intro level, written to get kids to explore gardening with kitchen scraps. Easy to follow instructions. I might try my hand at a lemon tree.

[Sarah Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very excellent book for adult or children. It is a book that is written for and marketed towards children but if you are new to gardening an don't know how to start this is a good way to try. It talks about several different types of veggie plants and how you can really regrow them from products you bought to cook with. They also do it in such a way that other than buying organic fruit and veggies there is really not a high cost for supplies and you can often use things you will already have on hand with the exception of needing some gardening soil if you do not have access to property that already has some. I want to try several of the projects now and see what I can do to help feed myself and children with out having to buy as much from the grocery store. Lots of great colored pictures and the instructions were very clear and easy to understand.

[Maureen Schlosser · Rating 5 out of 5]

How cool would it be to have a farm-to-table experience in your library? All you need are kitchen scraps, a few supplies, the sun and recipes. The projects in Dig In! 12 Easy Gardening Projects Using Kitchen Scraps by Kari Cornell are inspiring. Gorgeous photographs and easy-to-implement plans will compel students to grow and cook food. Young chefs can join the fun by following the recipes that complement each project. Resources at the end of the book will support learners who want to garden outside.
For lesson ideas, visit the following website:
https://librarylessonswithbooks.com/2...

[Kathleen Guinnane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing gardening book for young readers! I have 3rd through 5th graders at my school and this will be PERFECT for them. Easy explanations and great illustrations help them grow food from food scraps and seeds. There are recipes included. The thing I like best about this book is that these are projects that my students can easily do and see results. If a certain plant takes a long time to show any signs of life (like the ginger) it tells them that it will take two months or more to see a sprout, so to be patient. (read a netgalley pre-release copy)

[Critterbee❇ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great book for helping children to learn about growing vegetables, and it is very approachable because remnants of store-bought herbs and vegetables can be used.

Great instructions, good photographs, and almost nothing to lose if the items don't grow - they are scraps, so you can try it again. And also, you can compare what may have caused the growing process to be successful or a failure.

The only issue I had was that I felt the book was too short, with only a dozen growing projects, and I would have liked to have seen more vegetables included.

*eARC Netgalley*

[Melissa Marwedel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Want to show the children in your life the wonders of gardening? This great book has lots of easy projects to do with kids or just for fun. Best of all, they use kitchen scraps so you are recycling at the same time. Can't wait to get started on some of these projects!

[Alyson (Kid Lit Frenzy) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect activity book for children for the summer.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

My foodie kids in my elementary schools will love this book!! I can see a few of them trying to grow their own food in their homes.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has some fun kid friendly projects. I am excited about the newspaper pots in particular. I will be using this as a take and make craft at my library!

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic! I can't wait to check this out again as we get closer to spring, and start some of these projects with my son!

[Alexis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! Teachers and children's programmers likely will too since it includes easy to find, easy to grow garden projects that can teach recycling, saving seeds, and how plants grow. I didn't think about saving lemon or grapefruit seeds, and now I probably will. I already grow pomegranate and lychee seedlings (not in the book) and have attempted garlic in the past. The book includes cute recipes for each of the plants grown, and has projects that can be attempted year round. Kids, parents, teachers, and aspiring gardeners can all find something to like here.

[Sharon Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dig In: 12 Easy Gardening Projects Using Kitchen Scraps by Kari Cornell, with photography by Jennifer S. Larson, is an instruction book helping gardeners of all ages grow their own fruits and vegetables from nothing but kitchen scraps. Instead of throwing away leftover food in your kitchen, you can use them to grow more. Learn how to turn a single sweet potato into a pot full of them. Grow a salad from the end bit of lettuce and a lemon tree from a single seed. Several of these projects require nothing more than a jar, a windowsill, and a few pieces of food that would otherwise end up in the trash or compost. Step-by-step drawings and photographs make it easy to follow along, and fun recipes will help you enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Dig In: 12 Easy Gardening Projects Using Kitchen Scraps is not just for families looking to be more environmentally friendly or frugal. This book is also great for school or classroom use, and after school activities. Information like soil pH and other things important to the growth and health of plants is included- as are growing zones and the tools and supplies needed. The instructions for growing food include romaine lettuce, celery, leeks, lemongrass, herbs, pineapple, garlic, ginger, sweet potatoes, bell pumpkins, peppers, and lemons. I like that there were recipes to use the freshly grown food, and a full glossary or the words readers might not already know. I found the resources listed at the end of the book to be helpful for interested readers, and information for finding gardening supplies to be a great starting point for children, schools, and families that are getting ready to try some of these projects. I do wish that there were more experiments available, because my only issue with the book was that I wanted a slightly larger selection of food to grow and care for.