Showing posts with label Pineapple. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pineapple. Show all posts

Friday, May 24, 2013

My Golden Harvest!

I have harvested my Yan Kee pineapple!

My Golden Harvest!


First spotted the little fruit on 21st January 2013


Photo taken on 4th February 2013


The many flowers that makes up a whole fruit.


Signs of ripening, 14th May, 2013


Beautiful golden yellow, fully ripe, 17th May, 2013


My Golden Harvest !!

This Yan Kee pineapple is extremely sweet and juicy! It has a light coloured flesh and the juices are oozing out as I sliced the fruit! The fruit is not as big as the one I bought, but then it is really worth the long wait! Pineapple plant is so easy to grow, they are really fuss-free and do not need much attention at all. Occasionally, I would feed with some organic fertilizer, and leave them as they are, they grow really well even in very hot condition. I have some other pineapple plants growing at the moment, of different varieties, will share on another day. Meanwhile, try to find one of these Yan Kee pineapples, enjoy the fruit and plant the crown in a pot, put it in a corner where it can get lots of sun, and you shall be rewarded with a juicy and sweet pineapple! But you have got to be very patient, it's along wait, about 15-16 months!


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Update on my previous post, as pictured below :


Thank you to everyone on the feedback of this weed known as Plaintain or Plantago Major. I have completely forgotten about this plant, until I've read from some of your comments (Autumn Belle, Stephanie, Stiletto, Sowie, The Novice Gardener, Lrong, Anonymous, Louise) that these plants have medicinal value especially for kidney and urinary systems. I instantly remembered then, that I sowed the seeds almost half a year ago! I should really take some ginkgo biloba for memory booster! (Knock my head!)

Here's the "story" (smiling sheepishly) :
The seeds was given to me by a lady whom I saw harvesting the plants sometime last year. I was curious and asked her about it as I have never seen this plant before. She then told me that it is good for urinary system and that she's harvesting it to boil with some barley. She then gave me a long stem of flowers for me to take home and sow. To me the flowers are still "green and young" and there are no seeds visible. I was sceptical that it would grow and when I reached home, I just scattered the flowers in one of my empty pot, and that was about November last year! Seeing that nothing sprouted after about many, many weeks, I threw into the "vacant pot" some other vegetable seeds which had already past their expiry dates. I was clearing my stock of seeds and instead of throwing the expired seeds away, I just threw them into that vacant pot. So when these Plaintain starts to sprout, which I have completely forgotten about in the first place, I began to wonder on the young sprouting plants. They definitely do not look like veggie, yet do not look like just any weed! So my curiosity got the better of me, and start to look for more info from the internet and finally post it in my blog, hoping that maybe some of you may recognize it. And you did! Thank you so much for your help! 

Who would have thought that it took almost five months for the "seeds" to sprout! But then I'm glad that they finally did!  


Happy Gardening !

Monday, February 4, 2013

Pineapple

I've made a long-awaited discovery at my potted garden! My pineapple plant finally has a small fruit growing! I have been looking out for the flowers, for the last couple of weeks, as I have a feeling that it will start to flower very soon. Last week, when I was not paying much attention to it like I have the previous week or so, as I was really busy baking cookies for the coming Chinese New Year, the plant has been busy, growing a small pineapple fruit! I have never seen the flowers of a pineapple plant before, though I have planted pineapples a number of times, I never thought of looking out for the flowers! From what I've read from Wikipedia, some pineapple plants can produce to about 200 flowers and the fruits of the all these flowers are joined together to create what is called the Pineapple Fruit! Wonders of nature! 



I planted the stem of a pineapple which I bought almost 1-1/2 years ago, if I remember correctly, this is of the Yan Kee variety. It has a long and tapered shaped fruit and is juicy and sweet. The price is more expensive than the regular Morris pineapple.



I did not see any flowers, perhaps more flowers will appear as it gets bigger, since it takes more than 200 flowers to  make a complete fruit, keeping my fingers crossed for that! Pineapple plants are really easy to grow, they are practically maintenance-free! I did not do much, except for the very occasional sprinkling of fertilizer. They love the hot sunny sun, and do not need that much watering like most plants. Really fuss-free and maintenance free! And I grew it in a 12-inch diameter pot. From my past experiences in growing these wonderful fruit, it takes about 18-22 months from the day I planted the stem right to the harvesting day! That is a long wait, but definitely worth it.



Such a beauty! Am now waiting patiently for this little beauty to mature. Thinking of planting a couple more of different varieties right after CNY!



The photos above are all taken about 5 days ago, except for the ones below.



 This photo was taken this morning, in search for new flowers. The fruit has grown longer and bigger.



  And there are new flowers growing! Can you see the purple buds peeping out from each little pockets, all the little fruits from these flowers joined together that makes the complete fruit known as pineapple. Wow, now, whenever I see any pineapple, I would think of all the flowers that "created" this lovely fruit.



 One flower already bloomed. There's a couple more at the bottom already wilted.



 Have you seen or notice the flowers of a pineapple before? Now I know why the pineapple fruit has so many "eyes"! 



According to Wikipedia, the colours of the flowers may vary, from lavender to light purple to red. My pineapple plant above has light purple flowers. I'll just have to grow different varieties, it would be interesting to see the different colours of the flowers, and I intend to do that after the Chinese New Year holidays!


Pineapple is one of the auspicious fruit to have during Chinese New Year, besides the popular mandarin oranges. Pineapples are known as "wong lai" in the Chinese language, meaning "lots of luck coming your way". So hopefully, I'll have lots of luck this year! I would definitely love some luck in my gardening area!



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I would like to wish all my Chinese friends and readers :


Gong Xi Fa Cai

Wish you good health, prosperity, longevity, and happiness!

May you have success in everything you set out to do!


Yam Seng!


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