How to grow carrots from carrot tops to turn scraps into savings

Rather than throwing all of your vegetable scraps into the composter, learn how to grow carrots from carrot tops and you can enjoy a second harvest hit from this popular veg.

Carrots are among the easiest vegetables to grow as part of your garden ideas and recycling the crop will prolong your enjoyment of the plants – for free.

'Growing your own carrots is a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to enjoy fresh, home-grown veggies. While most people are familiar with growing carrots in containers from seeds, few know that they can also be regrown from their tops, which are usually thrown away or added to compost piles for making compost,' explains Daniel Carruthers of Cultivar Greenhouses.

However, before you get carried away imagining you will have fresh, colourful carrot roots emerging from the tops like some wonder of nature – you won't. But you will get the tasty green foliage, which can be used like a herb and added to recipes and salads. 

With their lovely fern-like foliage, carrots make attractive indoor plants when grown on a sunny windowsill, too, and if they flower you might be able to collect carrot seeds to plant in your vegetable patch in spring.

Daniel Carruthers

Daniel is a passionate gardener and grow-your-own guru whose love of gardening began over a decade ago when he left his career as a London chef to move to the Welsh countryside and begin a new venture in the greenhouse industry. 

How to grow carrots from carrot tops

If you're wondering how to grow carrots from carrot tops, there are a number of methods.

To get started, choose fresh and healthy carrots with green tops still attached. If you're using your own homegrown harvest, keep the carrot tops from the healthiest specimens. If you're using shop-bought carrots then choose organic.

What you'll need

• Healthy carrot tops with greens still intact
• Sharp knife
• Tooth picks
• Small glass
• Newspaper
• Small pot with drainage holes
• Potting soil

3 methods for how to grow carrots from carrot tops

It couldn't be easier growing carrots from carrot tops. 

For all methods, start by taking a sharp knife and carefully removing the upper section of the carrot so that you have a segment approximately two centimetres/one inch long. Cut back the foliage to a couple of centimetres.

1. Plant in soil

'Find a small container with drainage holes and fill it with well-draining loamy or sandy soil. Lightly moisten the soil and gently press the carrot tops into it with the cut end facing downwards,' explains Daniel.

'You can plant multiple tops in the same container, leaving an inch or two between them.'

'Place the container in a sunny spot that receives at least six hours of sunlight per day. Keep the soil consistently moist.'

As your carrot tops grow, you'll eventually see new green shoots emerging. 'When these shoots are a few inches tall – usually in two to four weeks – you can transplant them into a larger container, or out in the garden.'

2. Grow in water

'Carrots have the ability to be grown in water,' explains Julian Palphramand of British Garden Centres. 

'Insert a toothpick into each side of the carrot top and place it in a small glass. Fill the glass with water until it reaches the bottom edge of your carrot top. Place on a sunny windowsill, and remember to add water as needed to maintain contact with the bottom of the carrot.'

You will soon see new foliage emerging from the top, and small hair-like roots sprouting out from the bottom of the carrot top. 

Once the new plants have successfully developed roots, you can transfer them into soil in a container or the garden.

Julian Palphramand

Julian is head of plants at British Garden Centres and a font of knowledge on all things related to growing vegetables

3. Use wet newspaper

'You can also grow carrots from carrot tops and 'start the rooting process with newspaper,' explains Julian. 

'Place the newspaper on a plate and make sure it is thoroughly soaked. Arrange the carrot tops on the damp newspaper and within a few days, you will see roots emerge and start to spread. It is important to keep the newspaper moist,' he adds.

New carrot plants created using any of the methods above are excellent for adding to your herb garden ideas and if you manage to collect seeds from the flowering foliage then you can hopefully grow new carrot crops from them for free.

These methods for how to grow carrots from carrot tops also make fun gardening projects to do with the kids.

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