ARTICLES - News Letter February 10

Dear Fellow Garden Lover,

Sitting in the bath this morning I was enjoying looking at a painting that my daughter did for her Art GCSE a couple of years ago. The subject was Time so she chose to do a floral calendar. It’s a charming idea, each month is represented by a different flower, shrub or tree. Each season has a different background, so winter is pale blue, spring green, summer pink and autumn is pale orange.

The plants she chose, all her own choice nothing to do with me, for January she picked the daisy, February was hazel catkins, for March she picked periwinkle. Each panel is outlined and the writing done in gold pen. April is the daffodil and May wild arum or lords and ladies, June is represented by the dog rose. Summer is represented by rose bay willow herb for July, poppy for August and elderberry for September. Finally, Autumn is represented by the rosehip for October, the spindle berry for November and winter jasmine for December. It all makes a lovely picture and goes very well on the bathroom wall and is especially cheering on dull winter days such as today.

Down here on the Isle of Wight we are lucky with our local news paper The County Press because they have chosen to use a very good garden writer called Richard Wright, He always writes with humour which is refreshing as so many writers these days are so po-faced. This week he did a piece about an elderly man in Freshwater who has managed to grow a pineapple in his greenhouse. His article then goes on to describe all the pros and cons of growing pineapples for yourself, including all the little hints and tips that could make all the difference between success and failure.

Remove the crown from the pineapple by twisting or cutting it off, remove any flesh as it might cause rot after planting. Once you have cleaned it up remove as much of the stem as you can to reveal root buds which are small round structures visible around the perimeter of the base. Remove as little of this tissue as possible to stop damage to the stem and root cells. Strip off some of the lower leaves to reveal about ¾” stem. Leave the stem now upside down for a week to promote healing and prevent rot. Pineapples take in their nourishment through their leaves rather than their roots, they need a big pot mostly because of the massive leaf growth rate, than space for roots. Because they take up all their moisture through their leaves they need their liquid nourishment actually on their leaves, not on the roots, seaweed extract is a good fertiliser to use, as the chemical ones could burn the plant. As the plant gets bigger pelleted chicken manure is also good for the plant and can be sprinkled close to the base of the plant which should also have a good thick layer of mulch. From then on it’s a matter of plenty of sun no frost or over watering, and with a but of luck and a following wind you may well grow yourself a pineapple!

Happy Gardening
9th February 2010.