Month: February 2010

Making a List

And checking it twice. It’s hard to believe as this week’s blizzard blows (please, read that as you will) but there were reasons for optimism last weekend. The sun was shining and the 40-degree temps were rapidly melting the blackened snow heaps still dotting Philly’s streets.  Plants On Deck Seed List

After reviewing a few previous posts, POD hunkered down with with a stack of seed catalogs and began dreaming. To save on shipping cost and distance, only two purveyors made this year’s cut. The winners were Cook’s Garden (Warminster, PA) and Happy Cat Organics (Elverson, PA). As wonderful as Territorial Seed Company and  Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds are, one is located in Oregon and the other in California and Missouri. Although D. Landreth (New Freedom, PA) had the coolest catalog, they didn’t offer the seaweed/fish fertilizer I vowed to try on this year’s garden.

Of course, there are enough seeds here for a multi-acre garden, but we won’t think about that.

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Snowmageddon

Growing Pineapple Plants
Mighty Twist

A grateful neighbor gave the shoveling husband a pineapple.  So, while the husband shovels, the wife plays with pineapple.

Twenty-seven inches of snow equals one house-bound, stir-crazy gardener. And a lot of shoveling.

Thanks to Don’t Throw It, Grow It, an irresistible book picked up in Chicago this past summer, Plants On Deck has a sunny sill full of avocado experiments.

Growing Pineapple Plants
Double Checking

Now joining the experimental ranks is a scalped pineapple. If all goes well, we may see a bloom in three years…mark your calendars.

1) Grasp the pineapple firmly with one hand and give the greens a mighty twist with the other hand.

2) Carefully peel the lower leaves off. After an inch or so, you’ll begin to see nubs along the horizontal bands. These nubs will, one hopes, eventually become the roots of your new pineapple plant.

Growing Pineapples
Future Roots

5) Stick the peeled scalp into a jar of water.

6) Add a teaspoon of activated charcoal to the water. Strangely there was no activated charcoal lounging around the house, so the dried contents of a well-used Brita filter will have to do the trick.

Planting Pineapples
We Shall See

6) The nubs should swell in a few days. When the roots are about four inches long, transplant the pineapple into a 6″ pot. Obviously, pineapples like sun. Water only when the soil appears completely dry.

7) Are we expecting fresh pineapple? Nah, but if this sucker lives for three years, we’ll see if we can’t force a bloom. Check back in a few years for flowering tips including ethylene gas. Fun stuff!