Bumper crop of pineapples grown in Goosnargh

Green-fingered Dorothy Eastman is celebrating success five times over.
Dorothy tends her pineapple plantsDorothy tends her pineapple plants
Dorothy tends her pineapple plants

She grew her first pineapple decades ago from the top of a shop-bought pineapple and is used to harvesting a pinapple a year.

But this hot summer her dedication to matters horticultural has paid dividends – with not one but five pineapples gracing her greenhouse.

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A delighted Dorothy of The Old Shippon, Lower House Farm, Goosnargh, said: “It was all the fashion in the 1970s to cut the top off a pineapple and plant it. I just garden for my own pleasure. I grow all my own bedding plants, tomatoes, peppers and melons.”

Dorothy tends her pineapple plantsDorothy tends her pineapple plants
Dorothy tends her pineapple plants

It is 11 years since she picked her first home grown pineapple. Since then she has propagated more plants. The 70 year old retired farmer believes this year’s increase is in part due to the plants maturing, and added: “I’ve never had five before and one plant had two pineapples on it.”

In summer the plants are fed once a week, watered daily and grow in a greenhouse. But in winter they are brought back indoors. Dorothy said: “I don’t buy a pineapple now because if I did I have to cut the top of and grow it. As you can imagine they do get rather large and are a bit sharp. My husband used to get mad with me - they took the spare bedroom over. He said you might as well go and buy one for £1!”

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