Can You Really Turn Store-Bought Produce Into Your Very Own Garden?

Spring has sprung, and as the weather grows warmer you might have thoughts of starting your own vegetable garden. There's something undeniably enticing about the prospect, isn't there? What could be better than plucking a ripe red tomato off a vine you grew yourself and slicing it up for a delicious caprese salad? Besides, depending on how these tariffs go, it couldn't hurt to have your own private source of sustenance. You may have half a mind to nip down to your local home and garden store, buy a few seed packets, and get your "Stardew Valley" on. 

But what about those fruits and veggies you bought from the supermarket? Couldn't you use the seeds from your latest grocery expedition to grow your own little produce aisle? The answer: yes and no. While there's nothing physically stopping you from planting the seeds, it may or may not give you what you want — and some veggies are easier to grow from store-bought produce than others.

You see, the farms that grow the produce in your supermarket don't get their seeds from those cute little packages at home and garden stores. They use hybrids in order to create optimal plants in terms of taste, hardiness, and other factors. The produce you buy is usually from the first generation of hybrids; the second generation, which would come from seeds of the first generation, would be a lot harder to predict, and may or may not even be edible in the first place.

If you really want to give it a try, potatoes are probably the easiest store-bought piece of produce to repurpose for your own garden. After all, the hybrid seed problem doesn't apply to them, because potatoes don't grow from seeds. Instead, when the environment is right, they sprout off each other. (That's what those "eyes" that grow on old potatoes are.) Just be careful, because depending on which grocery store you go to, the potatoes might be treated with sprout inhibitors — which is very handy when you're trying to keep your produce fresh for that Julia Child potato casserole recipe you wanted to try, but a hindrance when you're trying to get the potatoes to sprout underground.

There are a few other possible plants you can grow in your garden, including sweet potatoes, garlic, and onions, but again, this depends on where you get them from. The same goes for tomatoes, which will give you a more predictable result if you get an heirloom variety, rather than ones with hybrid seeds. Generally speaking, produce bought from a farmer's market will give you more consistent results if you reuse their seeds than those sourced from the supermarket. Good luck, green thumbs!