The Simply Bananas Late August Update

Those Long Summer Days- June Update

The Long Days of June--The Summer Solstice arrives at week's end.  These long warm days are what enables us to have tropical banana plants in our less than tropical location.  We have about 2 more hours of daylight than do the tropics this time of year and it translates into extra growth.  Spend a late afternoon or early evening wandering around your banana plants.  Check around the leaves and trunk, because you'll never know what you will find...

A Squirrel Tree Frog resting in a unopened Banana leaf!

Our Conservation Efforts--My wife, Kate, and I have kicked off a project to survey the animals on the property that we own in Costa Rica.  The information that we gather will enable us to help keep the forest as healthy as possible.   We've chosen a great crowd funding site called IndieGoGo to help us.  Crowd-funding enables individuals to make small contributions to a project.  The site accepts credit cards or PayPal easily and safely.  To find out more information about our campaign, please click on the link:
Animal and Plant Conservation in Costa Rica!
We have less than two weeks left!
Animal and Plant Conservation in Costa Rica 

Patience Pays Off--This past Saturday, I was notified a minimum of 3 times about fruiting bananas.  The mild winter seems to finally be yielding the expected results.  Barring any unforeseen storm damages, we can expect to be eating homegrown bananas 4 months from the time the plants bloomed.  You may cut the flower pod off when it is 12"-18" from the last hand of bananas.  Google a recipe on how to prepare the flowers to eat!

Leave it Be--While I do not advocate this practice all the time, I will sometimes snip a leaf off of a non-fruiting banana plant and use it in cooking.  The first step is to soften the leaf over heat.  This makes it pliable.  You then cut it into sections to wrap food or use like parchment or foil.   Here is one of our favorite recipes involving fresh Grouper.

The How's It Hangin' Section--Showing off your Bananas!

Kathy's Dwarf Namwahs from Summerville

Nicole's Nutty Goodness's Ice Cream  Bananas-- More about Nutty Goodness

Eloise's Bananas from Sullivan's Island

Ryan's Ice Creams

Ryan's Postcard-Perfect other bunch of Ice Creams

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May Day! May Day! Is it really May or Novembrrrrr? The May 2013 Update.

Well, it could be worse!

We don't have any snow...yet!--However, stranger things have happened.  Who could have guessed that our amazingly mild winter would linger into one of the Coldest Springs in history.  Not me.  We left just days after the release of the Pre-Ides of March Update for a few weeks in Costa Rica.  When we returned, I expected multiple new leaves and pups.  In reality, I had single leaves that had been heavily shredded or broken.  The cause, you ask?  Slow growth from cold temperatures and strong Spring turbulent winds.   I cannot imagine that this will last much longer than the next week or two.  Onward!  Thanks to Judy at www.bellewood-gardens.com for her awesome photo above of her thriving Basjoo Bananas......... in New Jersey!

Mucha Agua--In addition to the cold April, it seems as if it was really wet too.  Normal rainfall for April is 2.53 inches.  April 2013 has us at... 5.98 inches.  Seeing that I'm an optimist, this comes as good news because South Carolina is officially drought free.  Yip!  This is a good way to start off our growing season.

Farmers Marketssssss---Yes, thats marketsssss.  For now, I am appearing at The Mount Pleasant Farmer's Market on some Tuesdays and the Charleston Farmers Market(Marion Square) on Saturdays.  Come and get whats in season locally and whats in season in other parts of the globe(watermelons...yes) as well.  Shrimp season starts soon.

Moving Bananas--I saw this tweet the other day:

Of course it is fake(APtweets).   Nonetheless, if your banana plants languished last summer in their current location,  just dig them up and give them to a new home.  Soil/shade/sun/rain/magnetism, etc could be affecting the growth rate.  This bizarre combination is unlikely occur again on your plot of land.  @SimplyBananas1 is on Twitter. 



Cool things I seen on the internets---I saw this garden using spent banana plant trunks:

I planted basil in one old trunk and it's beginning to come up.  I'll be interested to see how it does as the Spring goes along. 


Season *8--This is the eighth year of Simply Bananas.  As a zone-buster from way back, I deeply appreciate all whom have helped us.  Its you who provide feedback to what works and what doesn't so that I can hone in on providing the best banana plants that we can grow given our circumstances.  Thanks!

The How's It Hanging Section--While nobody has sent us any pictures YET(by the way...send them to SimplyBananas1@gmail.com).  I have heard of a Basjoo(fiber banana) with the yellow flower from the folks downtown as well as a mysterious blooming edible banana deep in the forests of Snee Farms.  The best I can offer is this skinny mutant Ice Cream bud.  There is only one real leaf and may not make it.
 

Sad, I know, but don't weep. 

See ya soon--Maybe in June!
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The Pre-Ides of March Update

Banana Plants on Folly Beach!...Just Kidding.(actually the Samoan Islands)

Hello to everyone.  This is, of course, the first Simply Banana Update of 2013.  I hope that everybody is doing well and had a great LowCountry Winter.  It seems that it was a mild Winter so far.  We are always prone to a Spring frost, but I'm guessing that we are past the serious danger zone.  If this is true, then it looks like we'll have another very good year of fruit production.

Time for Trim?-- Well probably.  After studying the weather, I decided to trim the old frozen leaves off(yesterday) and get the plants ready for the warming temperatures.   In some cases I found a partially green leaf that had emerged. 

Trimmed up it would look something like this:

Also--where I saw no leaf, I cut away all the top 'branches'.  Inside I found this:

Two Days later...it looked like this:

Its important not to cut the trunk parallel to the ground so make an angled cut.  This is done to reduce constriction on the new leaf.
Remember that the first leaf will be ugly as it will show cold damage and tends to shred easily.  As more leaves emerge, shredding eases and classic banana form takes hold.  The old leaves/trunks can be used as compost/mulch or dragged to the curb.

While you are waiting--for Spring to get here, enjoy this video about the Fruit Hunters.  There is some great banana information in here as well. 

Before the freeze in January, we were able to cut some of our undersized green bananas and stored them in the garage.

They are very slowly ripening and taste really good.  One thing we learned was that the more dark spots the banana had the sweeter it was.

Eight(8) Years...I was fortunate be invited back to the Charleston Farmer's Market for my eight season.  Look for us beginning  April 13.  I will also be a vendor at the the Mount Pleasant Farmer's Market starting on April 16th.
Come see us!

The How's it Hanging Section--

These Ice Creams probably won't make it.  Pretty Sad!

That's it!  See you next time!

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