Grow an unusual houseplant
Adam Pasco shows you how to transform the top of an ordinary pineapple into an exotic plant for your windowsill

Tropical plants for free
Many interesting houseplants can be grown from tropical fruit bought from a supermarket or greengrocer. While some of the resulting plants are simply decorative, others even offer the promise of a crop - if you're patient! Although I'm not going to hold my breath for the taste of homegrown pineapples, it's still fun to buy a fruit and grow a new plant from its top. Choose a pineapple with a healthy green rosette of leaves or topknot, then cut or twist this off and enjoy eating the fruit.

Now prepare the topknot by trimming off the excess skin and flesh around it and pulling off any brown leaves at the base, as shown in my step-by-step guide below. Plant the pineapple top in freedraining compost and place it in a heated propagator or in a warm, light spot. Once roots develop, pot it up into a larger container.

New green leaves will soon develop from the centre of the topknot to form an attractive plant for a bright windowsill or conservatory. Continue feeding and watering regularly, potting on as required, and your plant may go on to produce a central flower and small fruit in about three years' time. Good luck!

6 steps to... growing a pineapple plant

1 Pick a pineapple with a healthy green topknot. Cut this off about 2cm from the top of the fruit.	2 Trim off all the fleshy fruit and cut around the base to leave the clean central core surrounded by leaves.	3 Carefully peel away leaf after leaf to reveal a length of stem. This is where the roots will develop from.
4 Finally, trim the base of the stem neatly, just below the leaf scars, removing all the white stem tissue.	5 Fill a pot with gritty compost, then position the topknot in the centre, firming more compost around it.	6 Place it in a warm, bright position to root. New leaves will soon form in the centre of the topknot.