How To Grow Your Own Avocado Tree from Seed!

This Mexico and Central Africa native tree shares the same plant family (Lauraceae) with cinnamon, bay laurel and camphor. It is most popular because of its delicious green skinned fruit which has fleshy body and a single seed in the center. Avocados are rich in several B vitamins and vitamin K, with good content of vitamin C, vitamin E and potassium. They also contain phytosterols and carotenoids, such as lutein and zeaxanthin. Many studies has shown that Avocados are beneficial for lowering cholesterol. So it is obvious that this fruit should be frequently present on your table.

 

You won’t believe how easy and fun it is to grow your own avocado tree from the pit of a fruit. All you need is to learn the technique to make that hard stone at the center at the fruit sprout. However, this doesn’t mean you will soon have your own avocado fruits to harvest – your tree might start producing fruits after 7-15 years. But you will still get a pretty nice houseplant or a new tree for your garden. Who knows, with proper care you might be making guacamole with avocados from your own tree. Now lets learn how to grow an avocado tree from a pit…

The Method

What you need to do is to remove the pit from an avocado fruit. Now rinse it well and dry it as you don’t want it to be slippery. Have in mind that the broad part of the pit is considered to be the bottom while the pointed part the top. Get 3-4 toothpicks and insert them into the widest part of the pit, about halfway to it. Suspend the pit over a glass/jar of water with the pointed part up. Make sure the water covers about an inch of the seed. Place the glass/jar in a spot with good light, but not in direct light. The water should be warm and the level should be maintained. In 2-3 weeks the seed will crack and after 1-2 weeks a single root will appear. In the next 1-3 weeks a stem will start growing. Your avocado tree is ready to plant when the root is around 2-3 inches long and the stem is at least 1-2 inches. Once it is planted, the stem will continue to grow. You will notice different sets of leaves developing. As the tree grows, prune the top branches so it becomes bushier.

Avocado as House Plant

If you want to keep your avocado as a house plant cut it back to about 3 inches when the stem is 6-7 inches long, this will encourage new growth. When it hits 6-7 inches again, pot it up in a rich humus soil in an 8-10″ diameter pot, leaving the top half of the seed exposed. Place on a sunny windowsill. Avocados love sun – the more sun the better.

Frequent watering and occasional soaking is a must in order to have a healthy plant.

Avocado Tree in Your Garden

If you like to plant it in your garden do it in summer, but have in mind that if you live anywhere where it gets cooler than 45 degrees F, you’ll need to bring them back indoors in the fall/winter, before the temperatures fall.

If you are lucky enough, your tree might produce fruits after 3-4 years, although it will more likely take 15 years for the  first fruits.

How To Grow Your Own Avocado Tree from Seed!

Creamy Brussels Sprouts Salad

A salad that isn’t Waldorf nor Coleslaw but somewhere in between. Fresh with a sour-sweet taste it is a perfect side dish to roasted meat or meatballs or any kind of poultry.

It is a perfect salad to surprise your dinner guests with. What we love best about it is that the recipe is easy to follow. The main ingredient are the Brussels Sprouts but what makes the salad so special are the walnuts, apples and peas and Greek yogurt. We used a little mayonnaise but feel free to skip it for a lighter version. Here is the detailed recipe:

Ingredients:

• 100 g Brussels Sprouts (cleaned)


• 2 small carrots, grated


• 1/4 celery root, grated


• 75 g walnuts


• 1 small peas cut into dices


• 1 sweet apple, grated

For the dressing:

• 100 ml Greek yogurt


• 2 tbsp mayonnaise


• 1 tbsp orange juice (or vinegar)


• 1-2 tbsp freshly chopped parsley


• salt and pepper

Preparation:

1. Wash the Brussels Sprouts and remove the outer leaves. Keep the leaves aside in a bowl of cold water as you will use them as decoration when the salad is ready. Cut the Brussels Sprouts into thin stripes. Mix the yogurt and mayonnaise. Add the orange juice and mix again. Now combine the yogurt mixture with the grated vegetables. Add salt, pepper and parsley. Store in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

2. When the dressing is chilled, mix the Brussels Sprouts with the walnuts, peas and apple. Pour the dressing over and lightly mix. Decorate with Brussels Sprouts leaves and some walnuts on top.

Creamy Brussels Sprouts Salad