BB73

Hi,

just a few days ago I asked my landlord if there might be a possibility to find a spot in the neighborhood to plant some bananas.
We only have a flat and no garden and the space on the balconies is limited. And on top of it, I got two kids! :-)
And my other plants in the ground are planted on the island of Skiathos and I can't check on them reguarly.
In the end it turned out that there's a little space between their driveway to the garage and the parking area of the neighbors, which is unused. It's not a perfect spot, 60 cm (2 ft) wide and about 6 m (20 ft) long, but it's definitely better than growing them in pots.
The place between two buildings gets sun in the morning (untill about 10 - 10.30) and again after 12:30. In summer there might be almost uninterrupted sun to the leaves as the nanners get taller. In winter it might get only afternoon sun, but anyway I'm very happy. It'll be more sun than on the balcony!
Today I put the first plant to the ground. It's my Rajapuri, which should survive the 9a-winters.
I mixed some peat moss and perlite with the red/brown soil that also contains some clay to improve the soil.

Here's a pic as of today:



I plan, of course, to add more plants to this spot. My California Gold will go there for sure, but it has to establish and grow first. I just received the corm a month ago. But it's grwoing fine and is about to unfold the first regular leaf.
I also think of putting LadyFinger, Dw. Orinocco and maybe Praying Hands. But it might to cold for the Praying Hands...?

palmtree

Looks great! I think its going to look really nice in a year or 2 when they get large and full.

__________________
Location: New York City, zone 7b

Kostas

Looking awesome Bernd!!!! Its great to hear you got some ground planting space in Thessaloniki too and even better to already see your first banana in the ground there! Congratulations!!!

You may want to mulch heavilly under the banana to conserve moisture and provide nutrients as the mulch breaks down. This will help make watering less often and keep the banana at a consistent moisture level and even healthier!


Looking forward to see pictures of more ground planted!

__________________
''To try,is to risk failure......To not try,is to guarantee it''

BB73

It's been almost six weeks since I planted the Rajapuri out in the ground. And after I came home today after about a month on the island of Skiathos (where I met with Kostas!) I found my Rajapuri almost doubled in size!
Before it was 40 cm at the pstem, now it's a little more than 70 cm (2ft 3") and the diameter of the stem at the bottom blew my away when I looked at it! I'll post a pic tomorrow.
In the next days I will plant some more bananas in that spot, so they can get established before the winter!

Jack Daw

One of those great meetings that happened thanks to this site.

__________________
Thnx to Marcel, Ante, Dr. Chiranjit Parmar and Francesco for the plants I've received.



Zeitgeist - Corporatocracy 101 (~2hrs)

Zeitgeist - Moving Forward (~2.5hrs)

BB73

That's right!
We don't live that close as some of you folks in the US do, but sometimes there's the chance!

Dalmatiansoap

I ll give us a year or two before large European Banana gathering
I better start prepareing food ASP

__________________
https://abnb.me/AXJty518xib

Kostas

That's great to hear Bernd! It grew quite a few! Looking forward to updated pictures of it!!! It must be a beauty! My Ice Cream grew A surprising amount as well during my absence and it now stands about 60cm tall probably!!! I will update my thread with pictures as well as soon as I can find some time! Its always nice to find your plants healthy and bigger returning home from vacations!

It was really nice meeting with Bernd in person in Skiathos! He showed me his beautyfull plantings there along with a really nice local stand of (most probably) Orinoco with 3 fat bunches hanging....His planting place is under Pine canopy which makes for a great planting spot as it's more humid and wind/frost protected. In my opinion,he can grow the more tropical requiring bananas there no problem and have them in leaf for most of the year...Certainly a nice place for an Ae Ae,especially when you get a spare

As Bernd said,we live quite far as I live in Southern Greece and he in Northern. But still,it's Greece so not too difficult to meet again in the future!
Indeed,without this forum our meeting would not have been probable at all so thank you bananas.org for that!!!

Ante,you are welcome too,and you Jack!

__________________
''To try,is to risk failure......To not try,is to guarantee it''

BB73

By the way Kosta: I was checking this here already:
Is this Orinoco? It's supposed to be a Pisang Awak (Namwah).

I spoke with the owner of the property and may be in spring he'll give away some pups. Now he's busy

BB73

Hi,

there's the update as promissed.



I was preparing the soil for new plantings, behind the plant in front. But I'm not sure which banana to plant there....

lowinaki

Hi kostas, i see you live in Greece, I live in Volos, do you have any idea how i can get hold on rhizomes of edible banana plants, I want to try this as one of my ideas that we all grow our own food, I am at the tem (exchange without money) and anytyhing that helps people, and to lower the import from any food is my idea.Specially for the people who have no income at all.

Kostas

Hi again Olga! Lets follow this on your other thread to keep things in one place It's nice to grow your own fruits,especially if the plant that makes them is pretty itself like bananas are!

__________________
''To try,is to risk failure......To not try,is to guarantee it''