The easy way to grow an avocado plant (and cut down on waste at the same time)

Every time you whip up some avocado toast, you scoop out the creamy, perfectly ripe fruit and throw away the pit. (Unless you’re one of those fans of ground-up avocado seeds in your smoothie.) But by tossing the pit, you’re missing out on a potential new houseplant to add to your ever-growing indoor jungle squad.

There’s a simple way to make your breakfast a little more waste-free and that’s simply using the avocado pit to grow a plant that could eventually turn into a mini tree. But for now, the process of watching it go from garbage-bound to the perfect windowsill addition is all sorts of magical.

According to Apartment Therapy, to plant the avocado seed, first wash and dry the pit. After filling a jar with water so it’s not quite to the top, find the flatter and wider end of the pit, which is the part that faces down in the water and roots. (The pointier end is the side that will sprout the plant.) Next, grab three toothpicks and put them around the pit so it’s suspended at the top of the jar with just enough water to cover about an inch of the pit.

Then, set the jar in a sunny spot that’s out of direct sunlight and wait: it will take two to six weeks for it to start growing.

Once your plant has roots and a stem, it’s time to do some maintenance to help it grow into a strong little tree. When it hits six to seven inches tall, cut back about three inches—or half its height—to encourage it to grow thicker. And once those stems have new leaves, you can transfer the plant from the jar to 10-inch pot that drains, making sure the top half of the seed is above the dirt. Then to keep it thriving, water it frequently so it’s moist but not too wet.

The only downside to this whole thing: indoor plants are less likely to grow fruit, so you’ll have to be in for the Earth, not necessarily for your tastebuds. But hey, your eyes get a pretty good deal, too: more Gen Z green!

Here’s how to turn avocados into cupcakes—yes, really. Or, find out how to save ripe avocados for future use.