Growing Scallions

You can actually grow scallions or green onions from the roots of ones you purchased from the store or farmers market!
Have you ever been in the middle of a recipe and realized you didn’t have scallions? I have…many times. I use a LOT of scallions in cooking! Every time I go to the grocery store I am buying more scallions!

Quite a few years ago, I tried growing scallions in the garden from the scallions I purchased at the grocery store.

I put the root end of the scallions in some water for a day or two and then planted in the garden.

I wasn’t sure if they would even grow but as I was throwing out the root ends anyway, I thought I would give it a try.

It worked! Almost instantly they took and started growing!

I think how great it is to grow herbs outside during the Summer. All I have to do is go out my back door and pick what I need. I can grow herbs inside the house all Winter, so why can’t I do the same with scallions?

The other day, I had some scallions and thought I would try growing inside. I put the root ends in water for a day or so. I put some soil in a pot and stuck the scallion roots in the soil. I watered well and put on the windowsill.



Here they are right after I planted.



Withing a couple days they start growing! They will get quite tall though, and then start bending over. So if you need a little scallions in your morning scrambled eggs, noodle recipe, fried rice or salad, cut across the tops of all of them instead of just one. They’ll grow back withing days. 

There are many planters you can use to plant scallions either in water or soil.


Scallion Planter


Scallion Jar

You can also grow these in water. Although if you want to grow on your windowsill for long term growing in soil is best. If they get too long just trim the tops a bit to take the weight off the slender stems. I have also planted them in groups of three close together which seems to help the thin stalks from toppling over. This Spring and Summer plant some outdoors in a pot or in your garden for a plentiful supply of scallions anytime you want them!



These are also great to plant with children as they are easy to plant and kids love to see them grow!

The moral of the story is, you don’t have to have a green thumb to grow scallions. If you use them in cooking grow them from the scraps you are going to throw away anyway.