Grow these plants at home, and Dad browses the flower market every day but only looks, never buys

Ever since Dad retired, he's been obsessed with plants and flowers every day. Strange to say, he goes to the flower market early every morning, makes a round and buys nothing, then comes home and tinkers on the balcony, where all those pots and containers are planted with his vegetables, and in terms of looks, they're even more beautiful than flowers!

Sweet potato potted plants, Dad's proudest work

Dad and Mom buy a lot every time they come across cheap vegetables. Sure enough, they bought a pile of sweet potatoes and didn't finish them, and they all sprouted, looking like a little forest. Dad couldn't bear to throw them away, so he just planted them to give it a try~

Because there were so many sweet potatoes, Dad spread them out in every corner of the home: he split plastic bottles open, each just fitting one slender sweet potato, added some water to grow them directly in water, without adding anything else, and the leaves turned out lush and green.

Against the wall, in flower pots with sandy soil, he planted 3 or 4 large sweet potatoes, and the leaves were so dense you couldn't see the pots. They crowded out all the pothos, spider plants and parlor palms at home, without even a single yellow leaf, and everyone who saw them praised them. Dad was absolutely delighted~

He also planted quite a few sweet potatoes on the balcony, some casually placed in plastic bottles for water culture, some stuck in sand. Either way, they barely got any care, yet they started climbing and vining. Because the balcony gets plenty of sunlight, the sweet potatoes even bloomed, a bit like morning glories!

Groundmine tomatoes, Dad's secret weapon

Besides the sweet potatoes, which were planted by accident, the tomatoes Dad grows are also outstanding. Have you ever seen tomatoes that look this "lopsided and misshapen"? The first time I saw them, I thought they were genetic mutations. After taking a few bites raw, they were just so sweet, exactly the taste I remember!

It turns out these are an old variety Dad picked up, apparently called horse-hoof tomato. They naturally look like this. Although they look a bit scary, they're large with thick flesh, sweet and sour and tasty, much better than ordinary tomatoes on the market.

To grow such big tomatoes on a balcony, Dad has his tricks: during the seedling stage, control watering carefully so they don't grow leggy; the flower pot must be deep enough, and you can bury some chicken manure as base fertilizer; set up trellises for the seedlings in time to stabilize their growth; give them full sun when flowering, and after flowering, dip a cotton swab into the male and female stamens for hand pollination to get more fruit!

Garlic potted plants, Dad's favorite

Every year Dad plants a few pots of garlic. Never underestimate the garlic grown at home. Besides growing garlic sprouts you can eat, a few cloves can also turn into single-clove garlic with even higher nutritional value!

Generally, garlic can be planted in April or September. Take the multi-clove garlic bought from the market, first put it in a ventilated spot on the balcony and wait for it to sprout, then stick it into the soil, keeping each clove 1-2 cm apart, no need to space them too far.

Once the garlic is planted, just let it grow on its own, water it occasionally, and that's all. The garlic sprouts that grow can be pinched off for stir-frying, and after 3-4 months you can pull them up to harvest the garlic. The more casually you grow them, the easier it is to get single-clove garlic, which has higher nutritional value than multi-clove garlic, and I've heard it even has anti-cancer effects.

For the harvested single-clove garlic, peel off the old skin and wash it clean, first soak it in water for 1 day (changing the water once in between), then dry it after soaking and mix in 2-3 spoonfuls of salt, and salt it for 2 days to remove the juices. Then prepare a sweet and sour water with 1 jin of aged vinegar and 6 liang of sugar, put the garlic into the sweet and sour water, seal the lid tightly, and it will be fully pickled in 20 days.

Small scallion bulbs, Dad never throws them away

With garlic alone, how could we do without scallions! The scallions Dad and Mom usually buy, they only pick the leaves for stir-frying, and keep all the bulbs. Save them up and you can plant a whole pot~

Especially the small scallion bulbs with red skin. Just bury them in the soil with the tops poking out, and you can fill a pot with fresh green small fragrant scallions. In summer, for stir-fries, cold dishes and soups, you pinch off a few leaves, and there's more than you can eat!

Besides these scallions, Dad also planted an onion. The onion seedlings grow vigorously, and cutting them to wrap steamed rolls is just right. As soon as they come out of the steamer, the whole house smells fragrant!

Ginger preserves your investment, plant one piece and harvest a clump

As the saying goes, ginger preserves your investment. Never let the scraps left over from cooking go wilted. You can first put them on a plate with water and let the moisture nourish them until they sprout. After sprouting, plant them in soil with the sprouts facing up, and wait for them to shoot up~

Ginger likes partial shade. It's best to grow it indoors or in a spot on the balcony with diffused light. Water once every 1-2 days to keep the potting soil slightly moist, and in just over 1 month it can grow to 1 m tall. It adds a touch of coolness in summer, fresher than any flower~

Ginger can bloom too, usually white and red. I wonder if you've ever seen it~

Ginger planted in April-May can be harvested in September-October. It truly lives up to the saying that ginger preserves your investment: plant one small piece and it grows into a big clump~

Carrot tops, Dad's creative potted plants

Carrots are rich in vitamins and are often eaten at home. The carrot tops cut off were all pressed into sand by Dad, given a little water, and in a few days they poked out their little green heads~

When the pots couldn't hold any more, he put them in plastic boxes for water culture. Just a tiny bit of water is enough for them to grow into a little forest!

People who love flowers can grow anything into a flower

Have you ever grown these vegetables

Flower-loving friends who haven't grown them

Hurry up and grow them just like this~

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