mikevan

You can sheet compost. I'm setting up a bed using that. Lay down carboard or several layers of newspaper on moist soil, moisten the paper, then start piling on layers of compost, mulch, composted manure, etc - get it good and thick. Then let it sit over winter - making sure it doesn't dry out. It will decompose and facilitate the natural restructuring of the soil below it thanks to the abundance of earthworms that will multiply under that. In the spring, you should be able to plant right into that. Then, keep adding a diverse compost over the season as it settles and that will feed the soil. Nanner roots stay fairly shallow so they'll get the best of this good stuff. It's a lot of compost tho - so I'd do it a bed at a time. My first bed will be around 25x40' or so, then I'll expand as I go - get about 300' of nanner-beds before long... If you leave your nanners in the ground over the winter, the cylinder of mulch you use to protect the pseudostem will also contribute to the overall sheet compost when you take it down in the spring - just remove the wire-cage and plastic and spread the leaves and hay out around the tree.

I've yet to have any rot problems with this kind of compost. My nanners actually grow up into it as it becomes soil. You can sprinkle some red lava-sand (good iron and mineral source) and a dusting of powderized clay, rock phosphate and perhaps even digested granite every so often.

Be well,
Mike