How To Grow Avocado

We can’t promise you can easily grow your own avocados – these tropical trees are unlikely to crop in our temperate climate – but don’t let that stop you!

Growing an avocado plant from a stone is a fun project: germinating the seed is easy, and can quickly make attractive houseplants. Our fruit and veg expert Lucy Chamberlain guides you through the steps:

Credit: Alamy

1 Late spring is a good time of year to start. Buy an avocado from a supermarket or greengrocer, consume the flesh and then save the large brown stone.

Credit: TI Media

2 Insert four cocktail sticks into the stone’s base, in a cross formation, then suspend this stone over a glass of water so that only the base is immersed. Place this glass on a warm, well-lit windowsill, and after a week or two some roots will emerge.

Credit: Alamy

3 Once well rooted, pot up into a 5in (12.7cm) pot of multi-purpose compost. Bed in the roots and half-bury the stone. Firm it in. Grow on as a houseplant, repotting as necessary.

Credit: Alamy

If you’d like to find out a few handy houseplant tips to keep you busy indoors during lockdown and beyond, check out Ruth’s guide to houseplant care – take care, have fun, and keep gardening!

Read AG’s Coronavirus Blog at amateurgardening.com/blog

Did you know?
3 things you might not know about avocado:

• Avocado contain more potassium than bananas – 14% in each 100g serving, compared with 10% in the same amount of banana.
• This fruit helps protect your eyes – they are packed with antioxidants that are important to eye health and studies show they are linked to reduced risk of cataracts.
• They are heart-healthy – they are high in a fat called oleic acid, which is also a major component of olive oil.

We are here for you

Here at AG we are doing our best to keep connected to our readers though the magazine, this website and also through social media. You can find us at:

Facebook: Facebook.com/AmateurGardeningMagazine

Twitter: Twitter.com/TheAGTeam

Instagram: instagram.com/amgardening_mag

These channels are a brilliant way of chatting to people, sharing news, information, pictures and just saying hello – we promise we will get back to you as soon as we can.

Featured Image Credit: Alamy