Pineapples - How to grow your own.

Pineapples are one of my favourite fruits. The pineapples here are so much better than the ones I bought in the supermarket in Holland. Here they are much juicier, sweeter and so much tastier.

The pineapple is a member of the bromeliad family. The fruit actually exists of many berries fused together around a central core. Each scale of the pineapple is a berry. They are very high in vitamin C, thiamin and manganese.

Here are some benefits of the pineapple.

• Helps prevent arthritis, cancer and heart diseases.
• Reduces inflammation of joints and muscles.
• Protects against constipation and irritable bowel syndrome.
• Helps improve oral and eye health.
• Boosts immunity and improves blood circulation
• Helps heal wounds and protects against infections
• Reduces risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

If you live in the right climate it’s very easy to grow them yourself. They are very pests resilient and don’t require that much care. What they don’t like is to have wet feet. That’s why I grow them in raised grow beds.

Step 1: Get yourself a pineapple.
Step 2: Cut off the crown.

Step 3: Twist off the remaining fruit. The crown should come out cleanly.

Step 4: Peel off the leaves at the bottom. You can see white dots. These dots will form into roots.

Step 5: Stick it into ordinary potting compost and water it in.

Step 6: Put them in the full sun and just make sure that the compost doesn’t dry out.

That’s it. It’s that easy.

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On the first picture there were 6 pineapples I planted in this manner a couple of months ago. They are getting potbound and are ready to be planted in open soil.

These grow beds are a bit of a mess. First I have to do some weeding.

This is Biscuit, he likes to dig a big hole for himself in the nice cool sand.

I don’t dig. I don’t turn the soil. I just yank out the most of the weeds and put layers of mulch and compost over the soil.
This saves a lot of work and it really works. The compost feeds the soil and the soil feeds the plants.
Of course we do everything organic in our garden.

On this picture you can see the roots of the pineapple, better get it into the soil quick.

And here they are. 6 young pineapple plants, planted and watered in. I have to do some more weeding around the edges and put more compost on it.

Now I have to be patient and wait for at least a year before they start flowering and produce my own pineapples. Yummie!

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Thanks and much love,

Gardenbsquared

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