Dragon Fruit Preparation and Planting – The Lesson of Wonder and Patience

I have got the gardening bug for a while now. Although I must accept that I am not really the caring type and often forgot to even water my plants. But whenever I can, I do my best to make sure they are well cared for.

I must have marveled  at a tiny ant striding at its own will or enjoyed water pouring out of a sprinkler by bathing in it, but all that must have happened when I was still a child. As I turned into a grown up, I forgot the beauty that lies in the bits of insignificant mundane objects. Now with Little B, I am rediscovering joy and life once again; by not looking at the big picture, but by zooming into a moth while sitting in the middle of the road.

So when I saw the dragon fruit lying unattended in the grocery store, I knew it would be a perfect experiment for me and Little B.

To some dragon fruit looks unappetizing, a little odd and hence it is left alone. But believe me when I say this, if you think kiwis are amazing, wait till you have your first dragon fruit. Dragon fruit or pitaya comes from a cactus tree. Now that’s the first you might have heard of! It looks like dragon’s flames and hence the name. It is sweet with flavor and texture matching with that of kiwi or a ripened soft pear. And just like kiwi it has tiny edible seeds  in its flesh.

Dragon fruit might intrigue you and you might wonder what to do with it. However, it is quite easy to prepare and enjoy a dragon fruit.

Dragon Fruit Preparation and Tasting

Rinse the dragon fruit as is under water to clean it. Though we will be removing the skin of the fruit completely, however, I feel better giving it a good wash anyway.

Cut off both the ends of the fruit.

Slice the fruit down the middle to cut it into half.

The moment you cut the fruit, you will see this black-polka-dotted white flesh encased in a pink shell. This one is one of the most beautiful fruits I have ever seen in my life.

Nature is such an amazing engineer! Just enjoy the sight with your kid and take in this lesson of wonder!

Keep a half upside down and start pulling the peel of the flesh with your hands gently.

The flesh of the fruit will be out and you can cut them into desired pieces.

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Dragon Fruit Seed Planting

A dragon fruit has hundreds of tiny seeds scattered all across its flesh. Google told us that these seeds can be planted at home and we were all game for it. Here’s how we did it –

Using a fork, gently scrape some seeds off the flesh of the fruit. Collect the seeds on a paper towel. Just spread the seeds a little apart. I grabbed about 30 seeds or so.

Take a small pot and fill it with some potting mix. The pot that I took was about 4 inches deep and I filled it halfway with the potting mix.

Tear away the excess of the paper towel with seeds and place it gently on the potting mix. Cover it with more soil, just a thin covering of the soil.

Sprinkle a little water on the soil. Cover the pot with a lid or cover it with a cling wrap.

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The Lesson in Patience

Once we planted our dragon fruit seeds, there was nothing else for us to do but to wait patiently. Initially we tried checking our seeds every day. However, we could spot no activity so we started checking them only once in a couple of days.

Some seeds germinate in a couple of days, but not dragon fruit seeds. It took our seeds almost two weeks to germinate. It has been more than a month now and still the size of the seedlings has been just an inch.

Hence, the lesson in patience. I know children are restless and it is almost impossible for them to pay attention to something for long. However, we must still try and make them understand the importance of patience. I think our dragon fruit planting experiment did that for Little B in some ways. She is trying to understand that sometimes it is easier to get things, but sometimes, it takes a lot of time and patience.

One Month Update