Banana skins cut up in a jar making banana fertiliser

Banana skins are great for the garden, they are a rich source of phosphorus, calcium and potassium along with an array of other minerals that your plants will love.

I usually put the skins into our compost bin, but you can add them directly to the soil when turning over your garden. Chop them up to start the composting process and make sure they are buried at least 10cm from the surface so that when you plant, the nutrients will assist your plant’s growth as it gets bigger and as the skins decompose.

To get the benefits of bananas in an already planted garden you can make this banana fertiliser, or “banana tea”.

Similar to compost teas, banana fertiliser gets nutrients from the fermented banana skins which will give your plants a mineral boost.

To make this fertiliser, get a mason jar and put in about three banana skins all cut up. I didn’t use the ends (those went into our compost bin). Fill the jar with warm water and let it sit for a couple of days. I put our jar outside with a cover over it as it can get a wee bit smelly.

After a couple of days, pour the liquid off and save in a sealed jar ready to use on your garden. Put the squishy peels into the compost.

To water your garden with the tea, dilute 1/2 cup of tea into a bucket of water and pour around plants.

Triona.

Me with a bunch of lady finger bananas from my garden