I use the lemongrass a lot in Thai cooking! It’s also a delicious herbal tea.

When I plant live herbs from the store, I typically remove any dirt and separate the plants as much as possible before I replant them. With the live basil and rosemary at least, they really pack them in there! I usually separate out all the individual plants(the easy ones at least), being careful with the roots, give them a rinse, and plant them in a new (small) pot with a clean soil mix. They stay inside for a couple days to get over the shock, on a sunny window sill or under a grow light. Then, just like a transplant, you have to weather them a bit on a mild day before you put them outside permanently. They are often grown in hydroponic environments, and the sun is a deadly lazer. I’ve got a dozen basil plants hanging out in my greenhouse right now that were all in the same pot from the store. Just planted them out in the garden all summer, and schlepped them right into new pots yesterday.

You can also propagate a lot of store bought vegetables, especially if you have rooting powder. You usually shave off a very thin slice from the bottom to get a fresh surface, dunk it in the rooting powder, and set it in water shallow enough to let the crown hit the top. Change the water every couple days and eventually you’ll get roots and you can plant the vegetable in the garden after a bit. This works with:

• Celery - it’s finicky, results may vary. It may just bolt. Mine didn’t this year! But from seed is easier.
• Lemongrass
• Lettuce - leaving the innermost leaves intact vastly improves the
• green onions - amazing, no notes
• ginger - I don’t do this cause it’d be a huge pain here. It makes a nice houseplant I hear?
• parsley (why tho)
• sage
• kale leaves - same deal, take the kale leaf, trim a tiny bit off the bottom, and dunk it in rooting powder.

and of course you can plant garlic and potatoes but I get fancier stuff from the local garden center (Chesnok Red my beloved)