I really enjoy growing things. I have been fascinated with plants and flowers for as long as I can remember, even when I lived in small apartments, I made sure that I had something growing on every balcony and sunny area. I have been blessed with a nice size yard in a residental neighborhood, and I take full advantage of the space I have to watch things come alive.As I no longer have a child at home to homeschool, I spend more time on things around the house, and one of those is gardening. Because we live in Florida, it is very easy to grow pineapples, and at this time I have about 18 pineapple plants in my garden, 7 of which have pineapples this year. The sweet fruit shown here should be ready to pick in just a couple of days...
Why do I bother growing my own?
No pesticides - I use only organic composted manures and kitchen scraps to feed my garden beds, so I know what is going into my plants, and what will eventually be going into my body. My original 4 pineapple plants were from the tops of store bought fruit, however since they were planted 7 years ago, I am hoping all chemicals used to grow them have worked their way out of the system by now.
Taste - When you grow your own, the fruit is allowed to ripen on the plant, allowing the sugars to fully develop. Store bought pineapples (among other things) are picked before they are ripe, allowing time to ship them to the stores and get them stocked on the shelves. There is nothing as delicious as a pineapple fully ripened on the plant and eaten the same day it's cut - the flavor is out of this world!
Joy! - I love to spend time in my garden, learning what makes things grow, what causes diseases, how to improve my soil, trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong and getting excited when something works out right. It is a joy to be outside and hear the wind rustling through the leaves of our pecan tree, smell the sweet scent of blooming honeysuckle and get dirt under my nails. I am amazed at this detailed world that God has made and how he has blessed us with such beauty to see, touch and smell.
It's easy - Cut the top off a pineapple (organic if you can find one), keep about 1/2 inch of fruit attached. Set that in a shallow dish of water for a few days. Outside on a covered porch is best, it will begin to smell kind of rottenish. Take that and plant it in enriched, well draining soil, covering the fruit part and a little bit of the "plant" - don't put dirt in the middle of the plant though, it needs to grow from here, so keep it clear!
Water well and ignore. It will grow, and in about 2 years you will get your first pineapple. As you can see in the photo, the plant will put off new shoots. Pineapple plants only produce one fruit and then they die off, but you never actually see this happening, as they send off a new plant that soon takes over, it is very unnoticeable.
In addition, I cut up an apple per plant once a year in the spring and put the chopped up pieces on and around the plant. The gas produced by the rotting apple feeds the pineapple plants and helps them to produce.
Happy planting!
10/8/08 - Update for Christine, :)
Christine, here are some more photos I took this afternoon...
This little guy almost got lost in the ferns...I thought I was only going to get 8 pineapples this year, but I had a late bloomer, so it looks like we'll have fresh pineapple in the fall...
Here is an example of what happens to the plant after it produces fruit. "A" is where I cut off a ripe pineapple, the "original" plant will die off. "B" and "C" are where two new plants are shooting off of the original parent plant. Because of this, you hardly ever notice that the original plant is disappearing, the shoots become big quite quickly and take over where that one left off.
These are from the "archives"... :)
