I don't blog much about it, but gardening and growing my own food is one of my favorites hobbies. So, today I had a very pleasant surprise when I visited my backyard to do some preparations for the growing season that starts in about two months. A surprise that got me really excited :D
Among other things, I have a spot where 6 or 7 years ago I planted a banana tree. Unfortunately, I have never eaten a single banana. Why? Well, the reason is quite simple. Banana trees need about a year of growth in hot climate to yield fruits, so you either need to live in a tropical climate or come up with some other solution, like starting them indoors during the winter. And yeah Greece maybe hot but we have do have a mild winter with the occasional sub-zero temperatures that are more than enough to kill banana trees.
These plants are really susceptible to cold and in the winter typically the upper part dies and and the roots goes dormant, giving new banana trees when the weather gets good again.
So, what was the pleasant surprise? Well, first here's a photo of my banana trees from afar. Things look pretty gloomy:
But on closer inspection, things look a bit bright! As you can see down below there are still some green leaves but most importantly there are new leaves coming out of some plants, a clear sign they are still somewhat alive:
With winter almost over and the danger of frosts almost gone, if they manage to survive they are about to have a nice head start in March when the weather starts to get hot. Up until this year, the plants started coming out of the ground around mid-april and occasionally even reach the fruiting stage sometime around november. But then it gets too cold, the fruits die before they mature and so do the plants at some point by mid-december. So, even if one of the plants in the photos manages to survives then I bet I will eat my very own home-grown bananas for the first time sometime by the end of 2018 !
I will be updating you guys on the status of the plants sometime by the end of next month :D
P.S: Now that I proof-read the post I think it reads somewhat childish to some people. But I am sure all my fellow gardeners will understand my excitement. Fingers crossed, hopefully there are no more serious frosts to come !