Grow your own pineapples

Have you purchased any whole pineapples recently?  So delicious, juicy, and sweet as well as having numerous things you can do with them.  But what about the tops of them?  Did you know you can plant them?  Yup!  When you go to cut the top off, leave about 1/4 to 1/2" of the flesh attached.  Then start pulling off the bottom leaves, about an inch up.  Put the exposed part (where you tore off the leaves) in a glass of water until the roots form, then you can put it in a pot, or in your garden, standing up.  Just cover the roots well with soil.  It loves to be watered, but in soil that can easily drain.  And of course, it loves the sun.  After a while the leaves will start to grow very long and spread out.  I think it's pretty just as it is.  But, if you can protect it from the frost, in about 3-5 years you will get a stem growing out of the center with...you guessed, a pineapple.  If you don't live in a warm climate, pop your plant in a pot and bring the little guy indoors for the winter.  Just leave him in the sun, then back outdoors when spring hits. 

Don't forget about the sides that you cut off to get to the center of all that goodness.  Chop it up and mix it in with your compost.  In about a year, you'll have fabulous soil to plant, well, more pineapples.  What goes around, comes around.   Have you tried planting pineapples?