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push them quite deeply into the compost with your finger. They need a much larger pot than you would imagine, because they have a special trick up their sleeve. The peanut will grow into an attractive little plant, and in due course it will produce beautiful yellow flowers. But after that it does something very unusual - the stems bend down to plant themselves in the compost, and the new peanuts form under the soil. When the plant dies back at the end of the season you can tip it out of the container and search for the new peanuts in the compost!

Kids will also enjoy watching an avocado stone grow. The traditional way of starting an avocado stone is to suspend it over a jar of water, so that it's base is kept wet. If you keep it warm enough then the avocado will start to sprout roots into the water. And then after a couple more weeks it will start to spout leaves as well. If you want to, you can plant the sprouted stone in compost and keep it. Your avocado plant won't fruit for you, but they make nice houseplants. They need to be kept pruned because - given the chance - they try and grow into a very large tree. You can also start an avocado stone by planting it directly into compost. Again, if you keep it warm then it will probably grow, but it will be longer before you see any growth if you can't see the roots.

If you want to grow a free houseplant that will reliably produce edible fruit then save the seeds from a store-bought pepper (sweet or chilli). They're easy enough to start into growth early in the year, and provided they get enough light will grow into bushy plants that are happy on a windowsill in a container. They have pretty white flowers that are self-pollinating, and will be followed by fruit. All peppers are ornamental plants, with fruits that start off one colour and change to another. Chillies are especially pretty because they have lots of small fruits growing at the same time. You may find that the fruits your plants grow aren't like the one you saved the seeds from, because many commercially grown peppers are hybrids and don't have seeds that grow true. But the fruits will be edible, and you might find that you've grown a very nice pepper. Save the seeds from it, and the chances are much better that next year your plants will be the same.

These are just a few of the plants I have enjoyed growing. Once you start to grow your own houseplants from kitchen groceries, you will discover that the possibilities are almost endless. There's a large array of plants from around the world that will happily grow from pips, stones and seeds. Some of them will even bear edible fruit for you. But even the ones that don't will be exciting, unusual and attractive and will amply reward you for your time and effort.

Learn more about this author, Emma Cooper.
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