If you’ve got an old root vegetable lying forgotten in your vegetable box, don’t feel too guilty and chuck it out — it could make some great indoor foliage if you plant it in a bit of compost and a spare pot.
Here are three root vegetables that you can find easily at your local grocer, that will grow into leafy (cheap) houseplants.
Sweet potato
Sweet potato plants won’t last forever, but they are a cheap way to produce a vine-like houseplant. The leaves are heart-shaped and edible (though I’ve never tried them) and will trail from a pot or container.
Select a sweet potato that is fresh and shows no sign of mould. Start your plant in water, submerging about a third of the potato in a glass or jar of water, or supporting it over a container by inserting cocktail sticks. You’ll be able to watch as the roots develop with the stems. Alternatively, you can start your sweet potato in compost, burying anywhere from half to all of it. Allow the compost to dry out between watering, as the tubers are liable to rot in wet soil.
Turmeric or ginger
Turmeric and ginger can also produce leafy houseplants, with aromatic foliage resembling a peace lily and a canna lily hybrid. Ginger tends to have slightly narrower leaves than turmeric. Start with a fresh tuber.
You should be able to see little eyes on the ginger and turmeric if you’ve kept it too long to cook with. These need to point upwards. Ginger can be grown on the surface of the compost, or buried just beneath — no deeper than its own size.
Keep the compost moist but not wet, and place somewhere warm and bright. These roots can be slow to get going, so patience is key.
Eddoes (elephant ears, Colocasia)
This tropical root vegetable resembles a hairy potato at first glance. But unlike potatoes, which are tubers, eddoes are corns, with a thickened stem from which the plant can regrow.
Known scientifically as Colocasia, you might have seen these plants (and their cousins, Alocasia) for sale in houseplant shops, sometimes with a hefty price tag. The varieties available for food will differ from those sold as houseplants, but you can still grow a leafy plant from the foodstuff quite easily — the fresher the better.
Work out which end is the top. Usually, the fatter end of the eddoe should point out of the ground. Look for “eyes” where the new growth will begin, which are sometimes green.
Bury the bottom two-thirds of the root in compost in a pot four to five times its size, leaving the eyes pointing upwards. Water well and place somewhere bright and warm with a clear plastic bag over the pot to lock in humidity.
After a few weeks you should start to see signs of new growth. Do not let it dry out and remove the bag for an hour occasionally, to replace the air. Once the plant measures about 10cm the bag can be removed.
