Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Don't know whether to laugh or cry!
Having such a small garden and being an incorrigably impractical
collector, I need as much space for plants as I can find and therefore don't have room for artificial structural focus. Over the past 7 or 8 years, I've relied upon the hardier bananas to provide this and with their 3-4m high false stems and even longer leaves, they've done a splendid job. Two species I use are the common Musa basjoo and the increasingly popular Musa sikkimensis. Both are good, solidly reliable and hardy species here that retain their 'trunks' without any protection at all. So far, so good. The other day I noticed that a 'trunk' in the basjoo clump was in flower and by the looks of it, it had been out for a good few weeks. I'm a bit embarrassed that I failed to notice what was going on, but excuse myself by saying that the sikkimensis clump is growing at such a rate and with greater vigour than basjoo - several leaves had masked the emerging flower spike. The spike BTW emerges almost horizontally and is somewhat thicker than a broom-handle. The clusters of flowers are white-ish, borne in rows at the base of very large, somewhat inflated and leathery bracts that are dull brownish on the outside and faded ochre within. The bracts form a large bud at the tip of the flower spike and protect the developing flowers. Now some folks might be pleased to get even a common species such as basjoo into flower, but it has happened here before and is a relative non-event since basjoo cannot produce mature fruits unless the flowers are pollinated. Bananas have separate male and female flowers on the same spike, but not at the same time. The female flowers always open first, followed by the males, which continue over many weeks and sometimes into autumn. Culinary bananas are sterile and fruit without being pollinated, but many species need a suitable pollinator. Without a this, the embryonic basjoo fruits cannot develop and they remain finger-sized, green, fibrous and totally inedible. Since it is exceptionally rare for a clump to produce two or more flower spikes at slightly different stages, basjoo never fruits in the UK. So for me this flowering is more of a pain, because it means that over the coming months, an important 'trunk' will die away, leaving me with the headache of disposing of it. This morning, I was looking at the sikkimensis clump quite closely and it dawned on me that the reason for a particularly ragged and undersized set of leaves emerging from the top of the most important 'nana trunk' in the garden was that it too is about to flower. Whoo-hoo! Crack open the Banrock's Sparkling Shiraz and let's celebrate. Well, erm not really. This trunk is at the centre of the clump and its eventual demise will throw the focus of the garden out of kilter. Of course I was aware that this would happen eventually and surprised it didn't do so last year. However, to lose two important trunks in the same year is going to cause me a bit of head-scratching to say the least. A small ray of sunshine is that basjoo is likely to pollinate sikkimensis and since the bees obviously love the flowers, I can let them do the business for me. If the coming autumn is long and mild allowing the fruits to ripen, the seeds will yeild hybrids between basjoo and sikkimensis and the fruits should taste half decent too. Then I'll celebrate, but in the meantime I have to work out how to dispose of two massive banana 'trunks', both of which are around 40cms. in diameter at the base, weigh a ton and will not rot down in a compost heap for a very, very long time even if shredded. |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Don't know whether to laugh or cry!
whispers in a voice aside bury emm, bury emm deep and remember;
don't talk, don't talk no matter what! |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Don't know whether to laugh or cry!
BTW: you could use the fibre from the Banana stem for binding stuff in
the garden. Dad composts his Banana stems after using a hacksaw to slice them up ( longitudinally first and then latitudinally ). The green outer layer takes ages to decompose, but the pith goes much faster. He digs a 6'4'4' compost pit which he fills with cow-dung, dog-poo and other green stuff. The whole thing is tarp'd all the time except when we want to dump stuff. The weather is warmer here which hastens the de-composition; not sure what you can do other than trying to compost it. What about trying to make a mulch out off it? |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Don't know whether to laugh or cry!
"DavePoole Torquay" wrote in message ups.com... Having such a small garden ....................... What about some pictures Dave ? Jenny "~)) |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Don't know whether to laugh or cry!
Having such a small garden .......................
What about some pictures Dave ? Jenny "~)) bursts into laughter Anyway. Dave, did some googleing. Check out: 1. http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/~mushroo.../glossary.html Apparently fungi can speed up de-composition. 2. http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/pubcd/C764-w.htm Apparently nitrogen speeds up de-composition. I also read an article where they said that it would not make sense to plant legumes and then plow them under and then plant crop immediately because the de-composing veg matter would hog all the nitrogen. You could try dusting the chopped banana-stem in a Nitrogen-fertilizer and placing it seperately in a corner of the compost pit where it's nice and warm, with plenty of veg matter and purchased fungi. Link 1 has names of fungi..or just wiki that. Give us the results - if you try this ! |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Don't know whether to laugh or cry!
Vivek.M writes
Having such a small garden ....................... What about some pictures Dave ? Jenny "~)) bursts into laughter Anyway. Dave, did some googleing. Check out: 1. http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/~mushroo.../glossary.html Apparently fungi can speed up de-composition. 2. http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/pubcd/C764-w.htm Apparently nitrogen speeds up de-composition. I also read an article where they said that it would not make sense to plant legumes and then plow them under and then plant crop immediately because the de-composing veg matter would hog all the nitrogen. You could try dusting the chopped banana-stem in a Nitrogen-fertilizer and placing it seperately in a corner of the compost pit where it's nice and warm, with plenty of veg matter and purchased fungi. Link 1 has names of fungi..or just wiki that. Give us the results - if you try this ! I don't think Dave has room for a compost heap (1) ;-) 'Small' in an English garden means small. The first house I lived in as an adult had a garden 20ft wide and 15ft deep. (1) certainly not a banana sized one! -- Kay |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Don't know whether to laugh or cry!
Kay wrote:
I don't think Dave has room for a compost heap (1) ;-) 'Small' in an English garden means small. The first house I lived in as an adult had a garden 20ft wide and 15ft deep. (1) certainly not a banana sized one! In total it is 6.5m wide and 10m. deep - a typical size for an Edwardian town house this close to the sea. There's a 'green lane' - a service track behind, which enables me to carefully disguise a compost heap of sorts under a massive Fuchsia (currently about 3m. high and 4m across). It may seem daft to grow massive plants in such a cramped space, but they do make tiny garden appear much larger. I also have big clumps of 'flowering gingers' (Hedychiums) that grow between 2 and 3m high and palms with 1.5m wide fans. It all adds up to the kind of exuberance I enjoy, even though there's not a lot of room to to move about by mid July. I'm aware of the various methods for speeding up decomposition, but past experience has shown that they don't work with the stems ... at least not here. I think the only option is to cut them into 1m. sections and cart them off to the local tip. Anyway, that's a job for the winter and a very messy one at that. I've been thinking more positively and for a year or so at least, their demise will allow more light into the border, which will be welcome. I've got a nice young Mastic tree (Schinus molle) coming on and although barely a year old, it has already proved very cool tolerant, retaining all of its leaves during last winter. I'm tempted to remove the basjoo altogether at some stage and replace it with this. It will cast only light shade by comparison and its elegant willowy growth plus skeins of pink peppercorns in late summer an autumn will be make a nice change. Another evergreen tree will enable me to grow more 'air plants' (Tillandsias) outside as well. Several species grow well here and I'm eager to try more. Jenny, I'm keeping a photo-record where I can get decent shots. I'll get them up onto a site at some stage. This gives you some idea of what I'm up to nowadays: http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...rent=lasio.jpg The centre plant is another banana relative: Musella lasiocarpa that thrives here growing to about 2m+. high. It nestles against the trunks of Musa sikkimensis and is partnered by Cordyline manners-suttonae - a close 'cousin' of C. fruticosa (terminalis). Beneath it you can make out the fronds of one of the 'parlour palms - Chamaedorea radicalis, which is very hardy, albeit rather slow. The red-budded passion flower is P. x coeruleo-racemosa, which opens soft purplish red and forms a tangle with Plumbago auriculata, Jasminum polyanthum and Clematis florida 'Pistachio'. http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...martianus2.jpg The main plant here is a young Trachycarpus martianus. Nowhere near as hardy as the common 'Chusan' (T. fortunei), the leaflets are far more numerous, narrower and the fans eventually become almost circular as the palm matures. The white down on the leaf edges and covering the new leaves adds to the appeal. The stray frond creeping in to the rear is that of a young 'Majesty palm' - Ravenea rivularis from Madagascar. It's not very hardy here and needs winter protection as well as copious watering and feeding in summer, but I like the elegant leaves. |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Don't know whether to laugh or cry!
On Sun, 25 Jun 2006 21:50:46 +0100, K wrote:
I don't think Dave has room for a compost heap (1) ;-) 'Small' in an English garden means small. The first house I lived in as an adult had a garden 20ft wide and 15ft deep. (1) certainly not a banana sized one! Ghosh! I thought his "small" meant "actually big, but had filled it up with plants and stuff"; which is why i was grinning like a silly monkey, because my Dad does the same brilliant thing with the house ( fills it up with precious "gems", that are too precious to dispose! LoL ) Anyway .. Hmm..well he could dry the Banana-stem shavings to get rid of excess moisture ( on the roof, if it's possible; that will shrink them a bit and speed up decomposition ) then heave emm all in-to a nylon-sack or plastic-bag along with the nitrogen, fungus and other mycelium; Then seal the bag shut. It won't hog too much place and he could leave it on the roof to keep it warm. |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
Don't know whether to laugh or cry!
Vivek.M wrote:
Hmm..well he could dry the Banana-stem shavings to get rid of excess moisture ( on the roof, if it's possible; that will shrink them a bit and speed up decomposition ) Erm - heaving bags of of banana-trunk bits up on to the roof ? This might work with a flat roof where they could be out of sight, but not on a pitched, slated one. Even if bags could be fixed so as not to slide off (no easy feat), the visual effect would not go down at all well with neighbours. Nor me for that matter! |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
Don't know whether to laugh or cry!
"DavePoole Torquay" wrote in message ups.com... Having such a small garden and being an incorrigably impractical collector, I need as much space for plants as I can find and therefore don't have room for artificial structural focus. Over the past 7 or 8 years, I've relied upon the hardier bananas to provide this and with their 3-4m high false stems and even longer leaves, they've done a splendid job. Two species I use are the common Musa basjoo and the increasingly popular Musa sikkimensis. Both are good, solidly reliable and hardy species here that retain their 'trunks' without any protection at all. So far, so good. The other day I noticed that a 'trunk' in the basjoo clump was in flower and by the looks of it, it had been out for a good few weeks. I'm a bit embarrassed that I failed to notice what was going on, but excuse myself by saying that the sikkimensis clump is growing at such a rate and with greater vigour than basjoo - several leaves had masked the emerging flower spike. The spike BTW emerges almost horizontally and is somewhat thicker than a broom-handle. The clusters of flowers are white-ish, borne in rows at the base of very large, somewhat inflated and leathery bracts that are dull brownish on the outside and faded ochre within. The bracts form a large bud at the tip of the flower spike and protect the developing flowers. Now some folks might be pleased to get even a common species such as basjoo into flower, but it has happened here before and is a relative non-event since basjoo cannot produce mature fruits unless the flowers are pollinated. Bananas have separate male and female flowers on the same spike, but not at the same time. The female flowers always open first, followed by the males, which continue over many weeks and sometimes into autumn. Culinary bananas are sterile and fruit without being pollinated, but many species need a suitable pollinator. Without a this, the embryonic basjoo fruits cannot develop and they remain finger-sized, green, fibrous and totally inedible. Since it is exceptionally rare for a clump to produce two or more flower spikes at slightly different stages, basjoo never fruits in the UK. So for me this flowering is more of a pain, because it means that over the coming months, an important 'trunk' will die away, leaving me with the headache of disposing of it. This morning, I was looking at the sikkimensis clump quite closely and it dawned on me that the reason for a particularly ragged and undersized set of leaves emerging from the top of the most important 'nana trunk' in the garden was that it too is about to flower. Whoo-hoo! Crack open the Banrock's Sparkling Shiraz and let's celebrate. Well, erm not really. This trunk is at the centre of the clump and its eventual demise will throw the focus of the garden out of kilter. Of course I was aware that this would happen eventually and surprised it didn't do so last year. However, to lose two important trunks in the same year is going to cause me a bit of head-scratching to say the least. A small ray of sunshine is that basjoo is likely to pollinate sikkimensis and since the bees obviously love the flowers, I can let them do the business for me. If the coming autumn is long and mild allowing the fruits to ripen, the seeds will yeild hybrids between basjoo and sikkimensis and the fruits should taste half decent too. Then I'll celebrate, but in the meantime I have to work out how to dispose of two massive banana 'trunks', both of which are around 40cms. in diameter at the base, weigh a ton and will not rot down in a compost heap for a very, very long time even if shredded. Thanks for sharing that most useful info. It could be worse-your Cardiocrinums and Bamboo could both be flowering as well as the Bananas. If you shift the trunks up here I can guarantee that they will turn to mush just like mine do each winter. Will the crossed seed germinate and what might it produce? |
#11
|
|||
|
|||
Don't know whether to laugh or cry!
Rupert (W.Yorkshire) wrote:
Thanks for sharing that most useful info. It could be worse-your Cardiocrinums and Bamboo could both be flowering as well as the Bananas. Well, I don't do Cardicrinums - they wouldn't look quite right here and bamboos just don't do it for me at all. Well, maybe Chusquaea couleou and one or two odd-ball types, but I have to weigh up how much I like something with how much space is available. Come to think of, I don't go a bundle on most grasses either ... except Setaria palmifolia (magnificent, wonderful, superb etc etc. but a bit tender) and at a push, the variegated Arundos (bamboo-like, but with bigger, better leaves). Yankee prairie grasses leave me cold and 'prairie plantings' incorporating them much colder still. I digress as usual.... If you shift the trunks up here I can guarantee that they will turn to mush just like mine do each winter. Yeah and what a slimy mess too! It's a nightmare if the juice gets on a shirt as well - stains it indelibly. I now keep 'nana-shirts', for working in, especially if I'm trimming the leaves etc. Will the crossed seed germinate and what might it produce? Well, the progeny could be very interesting. A more exotic, slightly less hardy, but far more vigorous basjoo with a bit more colour? Maybe a more slender growing sikki that is hardier, maybe anything else or a batch of worthless runts. Who knows it's anyone's guess as to what might happen. I've got a batch of hybrid Hedychiums I crossed last year and each one could be a stunner or all could be a waste of time and space. I have a couple of years before I find out. In the mean time, I have to keep making more in case the first batch is duff and the really good one doesn't pop up for until several attempts have been made. It could be the same with the Musa, but more difficult because getting the flowers of both species to sychronise with sufficient time left in the year for the seeds to mature is not easily arranged. Phew you can't imagine how difficult it is to respond to this whilst listening to Rimsky Korsakov at full pelt. Nuff - 'The Festival in Baghdad' wins! |
#12
|
|||
|
|||
Don't know whether to laugh or cry!
DavePoole Torquay writes
Kay wrote: I don't think Dave has room for a compost heap (1) ;-) 'Small' in an English garden means small. The first house I lived in as an adult had a garden 20ft wide and 15ft deep. (1) certainly not a banana sized one! In total it is 6.5m wide and 10m. deep - a typical size for an Edwardian town house this close to the sea. There's a 'green lane' - a service track behind, which enables me to carefully disguise a compost heap of sorts under a massive Fuchsia (currently about 3m. high and 4m across). Is that the dimensions of the compost heap or the fuchsia? Jenny, I'm keeping a photo-record where I can get decent shots. I'll get them up onto a site at some stage. This gives you some idea of what I'm up to nowadays: http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...view¤t=l asio.jpg Lovely! I do like plants to look enthusiastic and abundant, as if they're bursting out of their available space. I hate the 'bare soil dotted with plants' look. I've just got a new garden :-) My dad is moving up north, and the garden is exactly 'bare soil dotted with plants' - all lovingly tended by current owner, who lavishes much attention on, for example, growing primulas on a dry bank. It's the opposite to my moist and shaded garden, so I can't wait! -- Kay |
#13
|
|||
|
|||
Don't know whether to laugh or cry!
K wrote:
Is that the dimensions of the compost heap or the fuchsia? The Fuchsia - they grow very big down 'ere! Lovely! I do like plants to look enthusiastic and abundant, as if they're bursting out of their available space. I hate the 'bare soil dotted with plants' look. To my eyes, that's the only way to grow them. Anything less is a waste of time and space. Minimalists (aka mini-maulists) Bah! Go away and stop spreading ennui and start spreading manure! |
#14
|
|||
|
|||
Don't know whether to laugh or cry!
In article .com, "DavePoole Torquay" writes: | K wrote: | | Lovely! I do like plants to look enthusiastic and abundant, as if | they're bursting out of their available space. I hate the 'bare soil | dotted with plants' look. | | To my eyes, that's the only way to grow them. Anything less is a waste | of time and space. Minimalists (aka mini-maulists) Bah! Go away and | stop spreading ennui and start spreading manure! Well, as someone who grew up in the savanna, I like that look - but it needs a lot of space and a climate to suit! It isn't very different in that respect to the UK parkland look, which is well suited to gardens of a few hectares and up. Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
#15
|
|||
|
|||
Don't know whether to laugh or cry!
Nick Maclaren wrote:
Well, as someone who grew up in the savanna, I like that look - but it needs a lot of space and a climate to suit! It isn't very different in that respect to the UK parkland look, which is well suited to gardens of a few hectares and up. Fair enough Nick, but it doesn't suit me - I like it lush - utterly lush and far more so than I can create here. Even when using far hardier plants in much larger spaces, I have always been of that opinion. Some go wild about rustting grasses in the wind and indeed they can. That is their choice. For me, the hint of wind is prescient of bitter intrusions from inhospitably cold places and a reminder of winter. Whether it is well-suited to larger gardens, remains purely a matter of personal preference. I've been around long enough to remain unconvinced as to its aesthetic benefits and to be honest, can't imagine a time when I'll change. Stuck in the mud so to speak. |
Reply |
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
Does anybody know whether plant pathogen fungus Erysiphe has PectateLyase gene? | Plant Biology | |||
Paraquat - how long before one notices whether it has worked? | United Kingdom | |||
Don't open if you don't want a bit of a laugh | United Kingdom | |||
Newbie - advice please on whether to buy huge garden! | United Kingdom | |||
Global Warming "The debate on whether climate change is occurring has ended." | alt.forestry |