Or at least that's what I hope anyway. I can just barely imagine how nice a home grown pineapple must taste...heaven. Well, one day I might find out because I have just planted one in our greenhouse in a little pot. Apparently they take about two years to fruit, if they are in the right growing conditions presumably, but I have patience, so I'll enjoy the wait.
The first thing to do is to buy a pineapple from where ever you can. Eat it and save the top bit with all the spikey leaves. Remove all the flesh from around the base of this leafy mass and then leave to dry for about a week. This is to make sure that the pineapple stump doesn't rot before it sends out roots. I left mine on the top shelf of the greenhouse and of course forgot about it for about two and a half weeks so it is well and truly dried out now.
Whether or not it's too dry to plant I have no idea and the only way I'll find out is to wait about six months and see if it's successful. This is how long it takes to root it seems. God knows why it's so slow but that's the way it is and so I planted my stump in a little pot filled with light garden soil to which I had
added some home made garden compost. I watered it carefully and put it at the back of the greenhouse where it will not be disturbed.
I know very little about how to grow pineapples in Ireland but I know that they need to be some where nice and warm and that's why it is in the greenhouse. It's in good company anyway, sitting beside an avocado plant that popped up from the compost bin. I'm not sure if our greenhouse will get hot enough for long enough but I will surely find on something along the way and if this attempt is unsuccessful then I'll try again and then again and again until I get a pineapple. Imagine.....
