You can’t beat the flavor of homegrown bananas, cultivated and looked after with lots of ღ ღ ღ. Besides that, you know for sure no poisons have been used in their growth. Win-win!
Finally, after months of waiting the first bananas are ripened and ready to consume on this beautiful #FruitandVeggiesMonday hosted by the gorgeous @lenasveganliving. Woot Woot.
I am always so excited when we are able to eat the fruits of our land. Although we are far from being true homesteaders, we are learning every day and slowly we will get to the point that our land can provide the food we eat. I am already dreaming of that day.
Unfortunately, the beautiful 2 hectares of land packed with tropical fruit trees we call our home right now is not our own, so we will be limited in extending the land to our needs.... in the meantime, however, we'll keep looking to find a spot on this blue planet we can truly call ours and home...
Until then we keep planting trees and foods just for the joy and tasty treats they'll give us or the people who will live here after us.
But let's talk bananas right now!
These babies are the first to have ripened and are going into a smoothie tomorrow!
Banana growing
Bananas do not grow from a seed but from a bulb or rhizome. A banana tree takes about 9 to 12 months to grow up and produce a bunch of bananas. After that, the plant will not produce any bananas and often the mother plant will die. But around the base of the mother plant you will find many suckers or little baby plants that will grow up again and get you new bananas in the coming months.
Though we missed the flowering period for these bananas as we moved in only 2 months ago, here are some pics of the beautiful banana flowers on other plants in the garden. Just to give you an idea how the whole banana growing at home story starts.
Banana flowers are edible and make great salads but we just prefer to let them grow and produce big bunches of small tropical bananas.
After a while the purple flower petals will curl back and drop off, revealing a "hand" of bananas underneath. You may get anything between four to a dozen or more full hands.
Banana harvesting
Harvest homegrown bananas while the fruit is still green and unripe. You know when to harvest when the bananas look well rounded with ribs, and the little flowers at the end are dry and rub off easily.
Ripening requires a precise balance between ethylene gas, temperature and storage conditions. When the bananas are mature but still green, they begin to produce ethylene gas. This gas functions as a natural hormone that triggers the ripening process. Ethylene gas produced by the bananas is trapped around the ripening fruit by bagging the bananas in bags.
Keep the bags out of direct sunlight and at a stable warm temperature between 53F to 74F (12C and 24C) for optimal ripening conditions. Where we live it is usually well above 74F but that's still ok as long as the temperature is stable. Warmer temperatures just speed up the ripening.
My loving hubby got them down from the tree and then we put them in a bag for a few days.
This is the result. More to come.... already had a pre-taste and they are yum! I can just taste the love hehe!
That's it for today! Thanks for reading. I wonder what the garden will bring us next week.
ALL CONTENT IS MINE AND ORIGINAL!
PICTURE(s) TAKEN WITH NIKON D5600
This is such a lovely story and I am sure that there will be some more amazing posts coming based on your bananas!
Its been long I did not go to check my banana plantation! You made me remember, thanks so much my friend.
Cheers and sorry for not being present as before the last weeks!
@progressivechef
No need for sorry. Busy here too. Glad I reminded you of the farm. Hope the bad weather didn't cause too much damage. Take care my friend!
Tip!
Thanks for all the love and support ;)
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WAOW
I love bananas 💓
Give me some...
Hehe.. wish I could send you some ;)
Good photography
Thanks ;)
A good post, how many bananas have never torn off bananas from a tree, it's so cute. You have beautiful photos. Thank you.
Thanks! It so cool to harvest fruits from the garden. they are so good. Thanks for stopping by!
i love the blog on organic material thanks
Thank you!
That's super cool! I had no idea it took 9-12 months to grow! Thanks for sharing that!!
Always a pleasure. They are so easy to grow but they wouldn't survive the winter where you live! Have a great day!
Right lol.
Thanks, you too!
Such a dream!!
ღ ღ ღ Every day I am feeling blessed to be able to live here.
Hey, @amy-goodrich I grow banana in my farm too. I harvested a heavy bunch of banana a few weeks ago and it was a delight. Sweet flavoured and with very long fingers, we call that specie, four-corners, in my locality. Planting bananas can help the farmer to save money from purchasing same, and even bring in extra income when sold out.
Neat isn't it. What else do you grow on the farm?
And here I was taking bananas for granted! I don't think I've ever even seen a banana flower!
Hehe. They are so beautiful and delicious too.
Absolutely awesome! Love that you do this :-)
Thanks @yasminep.
Great post! Beautiful photography and very informative too! And I am a little bit jealous! I assume I will never grow bananas in my backyard... ☹️
Thanks @pusteblume! Think the German climate might not be right unless you keep them inside ;) Always welcome to join us and feast on our fruits ;)
Aww! Thank you!
Those bananas look incredible. Bet they'll make the best smoothie ever!
They sure are yum! Ate the first ones whole. There is something about the flavor of homegrown.... thanks for your comment! Have a great day!
Marvelous experience Amy. I eat bananas pretty much my whole life, but did not know all these details about them . This is truly fascinating for me and I absolutely adore your photos. Thank you so much for shraing it with us and good luck with your tropical homesteading. Maybe someday I come visit to experience it at first hand 🍒 🍌🍑🌿🍍🍓🍇
That would be so cool. So many fruits to share. Our doors are always open ;) Watch the Malayan pit viper at the entrance though... only saw him once but he scared the hell out of me ;) Have a beautiful day ;)
You have one at the entrance? Oh my gosh!!!
CONGRATULATIONS! A WELL-EARNED AWARD!
Ohh thanks, gorgeous. We live at the edge of the mountain and national park so we have many critters (both friendly and a little less friendly) roaming around the house. Have a lovely day!
Oh boy, sounds like a fun, lol.................and you are most welcome my Dear 😊
It actually takes only 9 months for a banana plant from growing to harvesting, so actually homegrown bananas are a reachable goal! Good luck for finding your own place.
I think it depends on the variety. Not sure if Vienna is a reachable goal though ;) As for our own place, we want to travel a bit more before settling down on a country and location ;) Thanks for your comment and have a beautiful day!
So you are a wanderer then? Interesting life!
Well a wanderer who has been stuck in Cambodia for the past 3.5 years hehe... our kitty cat is too old to travel now. She's almost 15.
I love the first picture!! excellent contribution @amy-goodrich
Thank you so much!
Just out of curiosity, why do you harvest when they are green? I would think the benefit of having your own bananas would be harvesting at peak ripeness. Usually companies harvest when green so they can travel easily and ship easily. Also I currently am living in Thailand and wait much longer until ripe, usually when they have no green on at all for optimum sweetness.
This is usually the point where I will use them in a smoothie or freeze them for banana nice cream.
Great post btw, I plan to homestead in the future on bought land and plan on growing all kinds of fruit!
Though we pick them green it is nothing compared to the time companies pick them as these bananas will be on the boat for at least a few weeks. When we harvest it only takes a few days in the dark and a bag to ripen them. The benefit of getting them green from the trees is that you can spread harvest and ripening a bit. If you leave them on the trees you will have all bananas at the same time and they will usually be overripe and only usable for smoothies or ice cream. I like to munch on them too. Good luck with the homesteading and if you are ever in Cambodia let us know ;)
I see, that makes alot of sense, one thing I'd love to grow is berry trees, the thought of picking and then freezing my own berries just sounds amazing. Also berries are pretty expensive too, so I think growing the more expensive items can be more worthwhile perhaps. Thank you, I'm not sure I will be, as leaving Thailand in a few days and going to start a fresh in Spain.
Cool... Good luck with the move and new start! Where in Spain. I have so many friends living in Barcelona and Bilbao area. Think berry growing will be a lot easier there ;) No easy in Thailand or Cambodia.
Thank you! Granada. Yes for sure I think so.
wonderful post! we do not grow bananas but see how they grow. I did not know some things about these plants
Thanks for your comment. If you live in a warmer climate they are worth to grow. Easy and yum to have your own bananas and they are beautiful too.
Such an informative post, I didn‘t know that they have eatable flowers! Harvesting the own veggies and fruits is like paradise ☺️
Feeling blessed every day. the flower is so good in salads. Wish I could send you some to try ;)
That would be wonderful indeed 😄 I think I saw some of these at a market stand in Thailand, I am on Koh Payam right now. Next time I will stop immediately and buy one for dinner ☺️
Yes, I am sure you can find them in Thailand too. Enjoy the island.
Oh my god, that's wonderful!!! I would love to grow my own bananas, too :))) Congratulations Amy!
Move to a tropical climate ;) Hehe. That's what we did!
Haha I'm there right now, in Mexico, but I'm a traveller, so never stay at one place for such long time to make it worth start growing something :)
I hear you. We never stay long either but this time the house came with 2 hectares of mature fruit trees ;) If they don't kick us out because they want to use their land, we are def planning on staying here for a while... kitty cat is turning 15 and is tired of moving around ;)
Aw, i love seeing people that have homegrown food.. especially my favorite, bananas! thank you for sharing <3
Thanks gorgeous! Nothing tastes better than homegrown. Wish I could send you some ;)