How Burying Food Scraps Like Pineapple and Peels Helps My Garden Thrive!
A Whole Pineapple, Some Scraps, and a Hopeful Kid’s Garden Dream
Let me tell you a little story about what ended up in the garden this week — not plants, not seeds, but the compostables that almost made it to the fridge and then… didn’t.
First up: a whole pineapple. Yep. Whole. Uncut. Still had its little crown of spiky green. I set it on the counter with the best intentions, but time passed, and so did our pineapple window. So, into the ground it went. The top is still poking out because my children are absolutely convinced it’s going to grow a pineapple tree, and honestly? I’m not correcting them. They’re so proud of that poking-up pineapple crown and I kinda love the idea that our compost pile has become a tiny hope-filled science experiment.
(Also buried: pineapple chunks, because apparently no matter how I slice it, dice it, or cube it, this household has beef with pineapple. It’s fine. The garden loves it.)
I also tucked in a small container of kitchen bits: potato peelings, strawberry tops, the ends of tomatoes, and a few leggy tomato plant trimmings from the garden. Just the usual suspects that didn’t make it onto our plates or into jars.
Here’s why I share all this because every time I dig a little compost hole and bury something like this, I feel like I’m slipping a snack to the underground world. My native decomposers - the worms, beetles, microbes, and bacteria - they love this stuff. The moment it hits the soil they get to work breaking it down, transforming it into this rich, dark, crumbly goodness that my plants will be soaking up in weeks to come.
The pineapple is slow to break down (the outer skin is tough!), but it offers a feast over time. It’s like the sourdough starter of the compost world - a slow, steady feed. Meanwhile, the peels and cuttings are already drawing in the good bacteria and fungi. These help cycle nutrients back into the soil, and support plant roots in ways we can’t always see but the plants feel it.
It’s honestly kind of magical. I’m not hauling bags of fertilizer or scheduling compost bin turns. I’m just… burying the bits we didn’t eat and watching the soil come alive.
So yeah - the pineapple didn’t go to waste. It went to work.
Want to keep up with what’s rotting in my garden next week? Stick around. We might even get a “pineapple tree” out of it.
Beccalynne.