We were at a free event laid on by the local council — the kind I wrote about finding in this post. While we were there, the community shop had a stall giving out twelve free items per person. Being the professional-level budget ninjas we are, both me and my other half grabbed a full dozen each.

We walked away with a glorious haul: bananas, full pineapples, peaches, plums, apricots, oranges, apples, and pears.

After devouring a peach (and trying not to wear most of it), one of the kids asked, “Can we grow a peach tree from the stone?” I shrugged. “Don’t think so.”
Turns out… you absolutely can.

And just like that, our rainy-day summer activity was born.

🍑 Windowsill Gardening: The Accidental Hobby

A bit of Googling, a few YouTube videos, and some improvised plant pots later, we discovered that just about all our fruity haul had growing potential:

  • Peach, plum & apricot stones → cleaned, dried, and tucked into soil
  • Apple & pear seeds → cold stratified in the fridge before planting
  • Citrus pips → poked into soil and misted gently
  • Pineapple tops → twisted off, plonked in water, and left to root
  • Banana skins → not plantable, but now composting nicely in a reused ice cream tub

We transformed a boring windowsill into a DIY fruit jungle, and the kids were all over it — not just helping, but claiming each plant like it was a new sibling.

🌱 Meet the Plants

Each plant got a ridiculous name, as you’d expect when you hand over naming rights to a crew of sugar-fuelled mini-humans:

  • A pineapple top now known as “King Pricklebutt”
  • A peach stone called “Lady Fuzzington III”
  • A pear seedling called “Sgt. Rootbeard”
  • An orange sprout proudly dubbed “Sunny McJuice”
  • An apple seedling christened “Princess Crunch Leaf”
  • A plum pit going by “Damp Dave”
  • A banana plant that hasn’t sprouted yet but is already named “Floppy Larry”
  • And the baby of the group is mostly launching soil everywhere like a tiny horticultural anarchist

Now, they’re all happily eating fruit just to get more seeds, like it’s a collectible card game where the rarest pull is a seed that actually sprouts. It’s educational. It’s eco-friendly. It’s slightly messy.
And it all started from a free council event and one curious question.

🎯 What’s Next?

Tomorrow we’re heading to our next free local adventure — the Grassroots Academy Sports Van in the morning and Ramp Up in the afternoon. Fingers crossed no one ends up accidentally planting a football.

If you’ve got fruit, a windowsill, and a kid with a bit of curiosity, give this a go. It’s cheap, it’s cheerful, and you’ll never look at a plum the same way again.

Stay strong, stay silly,
Dad in Command