I now see a lot of weed killers being sold through the internet, but we have to be careful and thoroughly read the labels before we use them.
Don't forget that Glyphosate was a well thought out weed killer and DDT was considered to be an effective pest killer. However, I go by the general rule that if poisons are added to a substance to kill weeds there will be paybacks.
Dicamba is now being used as a replacement for Glyphosate, but this has a worse effect on nature than Glyphosate. There are more than enough ways to eradicate weeds naturally without having to resort to chemicals that kill the environment.
If you value having someone campaign on your behalf to protect the environment and having access to useful articles about gardening and local environmental matters, please make a donation to help us with the cost of maintaining The East London Garden Society.
For many years, The East London Garden Society has been promoting the improvement of our local natural environment.
To enhance this we now plan to design an app for the internet in order to bring more attention to what we all love and wish to preserve.
Nature and its history are so intertwined, especially in east London, so this is where you come in. We would like your stories of plants and animals that are now in existence, or what we have since lost.
The part of London in which we live has faced many adversaries throughout its life, but has now become a much treasured part of our ecological system which must be maintained. It is hoped than an app will provide a historical record of the nature that we now have, or have had, and will help us all appreciate the wonderful environment around us.
Please let us know of any plants or animals, from the smallest insect to the largest bird with all other animals in between, that exist or have existed in the past within the area you live. In addition let us know about any historic sites/buildings that you are aware of, or have been in the past.
Bananas are believed to have originated up to 10,000 years ago and some scientists believe they may have been the world’s first fruit.
The first bananas are thought to have grown in the region that includes the Malay Peninsula, Indonesia, the Philippines and New Guinea.
From here, traders and travellers took them to India, Africa and Polynesia. There were references to bananas from 600 BC when Buddhist scriptures, known as the Pali Canon, noted Indian traders travelling through the Malaysian region had tasted the fruit and brought plants back with them.
In 327 BC, when Alexander The Great and his army invaded India, he discovered a banana crop in the Indian Valleys. After tasting this unusual fruit for the first time, he introduced this new discovery to the Western world.
By 200 AD bananas had spread to China. According to the Chinese historian Yang Fu, bananas only ever grew in the southern region of China. They were never really popular until the 20th Century as they were considered to be a strange and exotic alien fruit.
The bananas we enjoy today are far better than the original wild fruit which contained many large, hard seeds and not much tasty pulp.
Bananas as we know them began to be developed in Africa about 650 AD. There was a crossbreeding of two varieties of wild bananas, the Musa Acuminata and the Musa Baalbisiana. From this process, some bananas become seedless and more like the bananas we eat today.
Most historians believe that the Arabian slave traders are the ones who gave the banana its popular name. The bananas that originated from Southeast Asia were not the size that we are familiar with today. They were small, about as long as an adult finger, hence the name banan, Arabic for finger. However, some believe the name may have come from a local language in West Africa.
Bananas are also known as plantains. Spaniards, who saw a similarity to their native plane tree, gave the fruit the name platano. This led to the name plantain, a word used to describe the banana genus as well as the banana variety, Plantain, which is typically used for cooking.
The unripe Plantain, commonly steamed or boiled, resembles the taste of a potato. However, when ripe, they can be eaten raw like other banana varieties, and have a starchy but sweet flavour.
It is thought that traders from Arabia, Persia, India and Indonesia distributed banana suckers around coastal regions of the Indian Ocean (but not Australia) between the 5th and 15th centuries.
Portuguese sailors discovered bananas in West Africa and established banana plantations in the 15th century off the coast, in the Canary islands. Between the 16th and 19th centuries, suckers were traded in the Americas and plantations were established in Latin America and the Caribbean. Banana plants first arrived in Australia in the 1800s.
The variety of banana best known to us today is the Cavendish, named after Englishman William Spencer Cavendish, the 6th Duke of Devonshire. Almost every banana consumed in the Western world is descended from a plant grown at Chatsworth over 180 years ago.
Bananas have been grown at Chatsworth since 1830 when Joseph Paxton, head gardener to the 6th Duke, obtained a specimen imported from Mauritius.
It is thought the original Cavendish plants were brought from southern China in about 1826 and taken to Mauritius. From there some plants were taken to England and, several years later, derivatives from these plants were obtained by the Duke’s gardener, Joseph Paxton, in 1829. He propagated them in glasshouses.
A missionary named John Williams took suckers from these plants to Samoa in 1838 and, from there, bananas spread to Tonga and Fiji in the 1840s. It was believed plants were brought from the Pacific Islands to the east coast of Australia in the 1850s. One of the types of bananas in the Cavendish group was named Williams, after John Williams.
In the 1900s, Cavendish became one of the world’s most popular banana varieties and remains so today. The fruit is also very tasty and can be transported over long distances.
As well as being a popular fruit worldwide, bananas are also one of the most nutritious of all foods. Bananas are a source of energy-producing carbohydrates, potassium, vitamin B6 and B group vitamins, vitamin C, dietary fibre and antioxidants. Bananas have no fat, cholesterol or salt.
Because they provide sustaining energy, bananas are a favourite food for active children and adults, including athletes and sports players.
In many nations, a special variety of bananas are a major staple food crop. Known as Plantains or Cooking Bananas, they are a starchier variety of banana cooked green in ways similar to potatoes.
Chopping an onion might seem like a mindless kitchen task, but what if that leftover root end could grow into another onion right on your windowsill?
Long before industrial agriculture or grocery stores, people relied on this kind of resourcefulness to stretch their food supply. Cultures around the world have regrown vegetables from scraps for centuries, turning food waste into food security with nothing but sunlight, water and patience.
Today, many people throw away parts of vegetables that are perfectly capable of producing more food. In fact, it’s not just roots. Leafy tops, stems and even seeds from common produce like bok choy, celery, green onions and bell peppers can regenerate with minimal effort. What starts as waste on your cutting board becomes a renewable supply of fresh produce if you know which parts to save and how to treat them.
Regrowing your own vegetables not only cuts down on waste and spending, it gives you a direct hand in producing your food, which is both empowering and deeply satisfying. You start to think differently about what you consume when you understand how easily some of it grows back.
An article in The Hearty Soul walks through 20 vegetables to regrow from what you'd normally toss out. The focus isn’t on building a large garden or installing grow lights. Instead, it’s about making the most of what you already have; small cuttings, root ends, stems or seeds that produce edible greens or even entire vegetables using water, light and basic care.
Many vegetables grow with minimal effort and no gardening experience. Most of these plants don’t even need soil at first, just a bowl of water and a sunny spot on your windowsill. This makes the method accessible, even if you live in a small apartment or have never kept a plant alive before.
Some vegetables regenerate in days, while others take more time and patience. Green onions, for instance, typically sprout new growth in just a few days when placed root-side down in water. Others, like turmeric or sweet potatoes, take several weeks to produce leaves or leafy shoots.
The process remains hands-off, requiring only the occasional water change and consistent sunlight. This slower timeline becomes a visual reminder of progress and a rewarding habit to observe.
Regrowing vegetables is low-maintenance and fits into a busy lifestyle. You don’t need gardening skills, expensive equipment or even pots and soil right away.
Vegetables like lettuce, beets and cabbage all start their regrowth process in shallow dishes or jars before being transplanted into soil. That means fewer steps upfront, which helps you build momentum without feeling overwhelmed.
This approach gives you more than just food. It teaches sustainability. The act of regrowing vegetables doesn’t just stretch your grocery budget, it shows you how to create abundance from scraps. Even watching one plant sprout again boosts your motivation and helps you build a habit. It taps into the psychological principle of self-efficacy.
You are more likely to stick with a sustainable behaviour if you see quick, visible success.
Vegetables like garlic, leeks and green onions regenerate easily from leftover parts. These plants regrow from the base or bulb, and you don’t need a green thumb to make it happen. Just place the base in water, and once roots or shoots appear, transfer them to soil for continued growth. You can repeat this process again and again with the same types of scraps.
Leafy greens like lettuce, beet tops and carrot greens grow edible leaves quickly. While you won’t regrow the full root of a carrot or beet, the green tops are still edible and packed with nutrients. Lettuce cores placed in shallow water produce fresh inner leaves in just a few days. These greens are great for salads or garnishes and let you use the whole plant instead of wasting the top portion.
Peppers and herbs grow easily from seeds or cuttings saved from your cutting board. Bell peppers are particularly straightforward. Just dry the seeds, plant them in a container and keep them warm and sunny. Cilantro and lemongrass grow well from stem cuttings placed in water. Once they root, they’re ready to plant, and you can continue harvesting them for weeks.
Water, time and sunlight are the three key ingredients. Consistency is more important than precision. You will need to change the water every few days to prevent mold or stagnation. As roots and shoots grow, transfer them to soil for more long-term development.
The regrowth process relies on the plant’s ability to reactivate dormant cells. Many vegetables have a type of tissue that remains alive and able to generate new growth. When exposed to water and light, these cells begin multiplying again. In simpler terms, the plant wakes up and starts to rebuild itself from the inside out.
Some vegetables produce shoots that act like clones. Sweet potatoes, for example, grow long leafy shoots called slips from a cut tuber suspended in water. These slips are genetic copies of the original plant and grow into a whole new potato-producing vine when planted in soil. This kind of propagation mirrors what happens in nature, where root or stem fragments produce new plants without seeds.
Others grow new roots and leaves from remaining energy stored in the scrap. Even after harvesting, plant parts like bulbs or root ends still store nutrients. These leftovers are enough to fuel new growth for days or even weeks. Add sunlight and water, and they continue to photosynthesize, repair and regenerate. This natural design means that you’re not forcing growth, you’re just giving the plant the right conditions to keep going.
Your kitchen is already full of food you haven’t finished growing yet. When you learn how to regrow scraps, you reduce waste, save money and gain a sense of control over your food supply.
Banana water is packed with potassium, which is fantastic for flowering and fruiting plants. Don’t forget to supplement with other organic fertilisers or compost to keep your plants healthy and thriving.
