And we think we have problems with potato and tomato blight !
Buy a banana and it will almost certainly be descended from one plant grown at an English stately home. But now we face losing one of the world's best-loved fruits.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35131751
Yes. we have no bananas
Moderators: KG Steve, Chantal, Tigger, peter, Chief Spud
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some years ago i went round a banana farm somewhere in the canary islands, the guide was moaning about eu regs on the size and straightness of bananas prevented them from exporting canary bananas.... the canary banana was smaller and curvier than the caribean/south american bananas...ie it was a different strain.
i shall have to consult my daughter , shes doing some research on banana growing for her degree at exeter uni. somehing was mentioned about the indian banana industry last time it came up in discussion.
i shall have to consult my daughter , shes doing some research on banana growing for her degree at exeter uni. somehing was mentioned about the indian banana industry last time it came up in discussion.
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Primrose
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They would be more of a favourite fruit of mine if I could find some magical way of preventing them going soft and over-ripening so quickly. Considering the huge tonnage of bananas this country imports and the massive numbers which must go to waste I'm surprised more money hasn't been spent on this aspect.
When I buy bananas there is only really a three day window in which I can eat them and enjoy them, i.e. when they are still firm and hard. There is really a limit to how much banana bread you want to make with over-ripe mushy bananas
When I buy bananas there is only really a three day window in which I can eat them and enjoy them, i.e. when they are still firm and hard. There is really a limit to how much banana bread you want to make with over-ripe mushy bananas
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Tony Hague
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Primrose wrote: When I buy bananas there is only really a three day window in which I can eat them and enjoy them, i.e. when they are still firm and hard. There is really a limit to how much banana bread you want to make with over-ripe mushy bananas
Aha - you could send them over to me ! I can't stand green, vegetal tasting bananas that more resemble a plantain. For me, they are at their best when they are just picking up some black speckles on the skin.
This sounds like one of the problems our GM friends ought to be able to solve ? They have had sucess at making strawberries and tomates that remain rock hard, and presumably the genetics of the disease resistance is an approachable problem. It has always been the thing that disappoints me most about GM - all the talk is of feeding the world, the reality is about maximising profits and trapping people into buying particular seed/agrochemicals..
Talking of bananas, I read somewhere this week that you should place your old banana skin in the base of the hole before planting tomato plants as a good source of potassium. I thought it was in the KG 101 tips (which I read with interest) but it wasn't. Probably an email news letter.
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Primrose
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During the summer I always chop up my banana skins and dig them into the soil near the roots of my tomato plants or leave them on the surface near the base of the stems . Over winter I also dig their skins into the unplanted compost in a couple of patio containers in which I grow tumbling tomatoes during the summer. I have no idea to what degree, if any, this benefits the plants but itnever seems to do any harm. I regularly dig my wveg peelings into my unplanted patio containers dueing winter.. They rot down quite quickly, benefitting from what little heat there is in the winter sunshine. My compost heaps are in the shadiest corner od the garden and material takes much longer to rot down there.
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PLUMPUDDING
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I always chop banana skins to put in the wormery with a mixture of other peelings and veg waste. Banana seems to be their favourite and they quite like torn up used tea bags.
I don't usually add things straight to the garden, I compost everything first. I think it provides a better mix of nutrients and they are readily available rather than waiting for them to rot down, but I do have several compost heaps. Perhaps if space was more limited I might just put things straight in a trench.
I keep a few hens so the hen hut cleanings of hen poo, shavings and straw mixed in the compost heat up and rot down very quickly even in winter.
I don't usually add things straight to the garden, I compost everything first. I think it provides a better mix of nutrients and they are readily available rather than waiting for them to rot down, but I do have several compost heaps. Perhaps if space was more limited I might just put things straight in a trench.
I keep a few hens so the hen hut cleanings of hen poo, shavings and straw mixed in the compost heat up and rot down very quickly even in winter.