Gardening enquiries from RHS members sometime celebrate the most marvellous and inspiring tales of growing success – it’s definitely not always trials and tribulations.
A story that really impressed me recently was one about success growing dwarf pink edible bananas (Musa velutina) in a conservatory. The member had installed underfloor heating, to make the conservatory more useable in the winter months. An unexpected benefit was the blooming and fruiting of their banana plant after its first full year enjoying a warm bottom and mild air temperatures.
These small, pink, fuzzy bananas (pictured below) are quite different to the ones we’re used to – they contain large, inedible hard seeds, but the white flesh is tasty with a slightly floral scent.
The bananas we buy in the shops are all Musa acuminata ‘Dwarf Cavendish’, but even these are known to fruit after long hot summers in Cornwall, so may be worth a try indoors if you have the space (pictured growing at RHS Wisley below).
I love a banana myself, and this means I get lots of skins. With three great uses for them in the garden, a plethora of peel is an opportunity too good to pass up.
3 ways to use a banana skin
1. To enrich compost
The best way to use banana peel is to add it to your compost. Ideally chop or tear into small pieces to speed up decomposition, but you can also add bits direct into the soil. Bury them under Mulch is a layer of material, at least 5cm (2in) thick, applied to the soil surface in late autumn to late winter (Nov-Feb). It is used to provide frost protection, improve plant growth by adding nutrients or increasing organic matter content, reducing water loss from the soil, for decorative purposes and suppressing weeds. Examples include well-rotted garden compost and manure, chipped bark, gravel, grit and slate chippings.
As they break down, banana skins contribute a range of To grow well, plants need a wide range of nutrients in various amounts, depending on the individual plant and its stage of growth. The three key nutrients usually taken up from the soil are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Plants also need carbon, oxygen and hydrogen to make carbohydrates — their main energy source. Carbon and oxygen come from the air as carbon dioxide, while hydrogen is drawn from water absorbed by the roots. Other important soil nutrients include magnesium, calcium and sulphur. Most garden soils contain enough of these nutrients to support healthy plant growth.
2. To make plant feed
You can make a homemade plant feed by by soaking banana skins in water for a few days. It’s worth washing the bananas thoroughly beforehand, to avoid any A pesticide is a substance designed to kill or control the growth and behaviour of living organisms. It is also known as plant protection product and includes insecticides, fungicides, herbicides and molluscicides. The RHS doesn’t support the use of pesticides and recommends that gardeners use non-chemical control options whenever needed.
My neighbour swears by this, using the liquid as a very mild fertiliser. I will be experimenting with this myself, using a small, sealed bucket in the garage, and seeing if it can keep my tomatoes and dahlias happy.
3. To ripen fruit
Another RHS member recently enquired about ripening quinces and green tomatoes off the plant. Again, it was banana peel to the rescue. Just put the fruits and some banana skins into a sealed brown paper bag. Ethylene is a plant hormone that plays a role in regulating plant growth and development, particularly in response to environmental cues such as light, temperature and stress. It is involved in many processes, including fruit ripening, leaf senescence (ageing) and flower and seed development. Ethylene is also produced by plants in response to mechanical damage or pathogen attack and can act as a signal to nearby plants to prepare for potential threats.
Meanwhile, all this makes me ponder. If underfloor heating becomes more popular in homes in general, perhaps there are other possibilities for exotic fruits. The familiar Swiss cheese plant does in fact have an edible fruit which you can buy at the greengrocers in hotter countries. They apparently taste like custard!
Maybe we’ll all be trying to grow our own bananas indoors in the future?
