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You Too Can Grow Banana Trees.

  • Author Author Alaska
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  • Blog entry read time Blog entry read time 3 min read
Banana trees are almost synonymous with a tropical paradise. This is very appealing to avid gardeners. If you are not yet an avid gardener, it is probably only because you have not had a really good chance to garden much. I think most of the human race can become avid gardeners if given a chance. This is very fortunate for us now, since individual and group survival is likely to be greatly improved by gardening ability.

If you have not yet had your gardening urges activated, sprouting may be a way to increase your enthusiasm. My gardening enthusiasm was already stirring when I started sprouting. Growing my own sprouts really increased my enthusiasm.

Sprouting has many advantages for you. It is fun. It is a quick and cheap way to get better food. Sprouts that you grow yourself are fresher than you can get elsewhere and therefore taste better and have better nutrition. It is not hard to do if you learn the basics for sprouting. Here is a link to get you started with the basics for sprouting: The Beginner’s Guide to Sprouting: Where to Start and How to Finish

Once your appetite for gardening is whetted by growing and eating your own sprouts, you can move on to more and better forms of gardening. It is a big jump from sprouts to banana trees, but it won't hurt you to start reading and learning about how to make that leap in abilities.

An Austrian man named Sepp Holzer is the one who got me dreaming about growing banana trees in Alaska. He has been growing banana trees in the coldest part of the Alps. Here is a link to his website: Krameterhof: Welcome Even though I live in Alaska, I joke about living in the banana belt of this state. The area that I live in actually is warmer than most of the rest of Alaska. Instead of our temps getting down to -60F or -90F we rarely get colder than -20. Even that is rare.

That means to me that being able to grow bananas and other tropical fruits should be possible in my area. This idea sounds just great to me.

I was thinking that I could plant lots of berries a good distance off from my place to appease migrating bears and keep them away from my garden. I was thinking of spreading them out along the migratory path leading away from my garden. I thought I could ask some experts about whether this is a good idea or not.

Sepp Holzer uses a lot of techniques bases on Hugelculture or Hugelkultur. Hugelculture is an old gardening technique that was dying out. Here is a link that explains it a little: Hügelkultur - Wikipedia

If you bury large trees to make your Hugelculture berms, the hills will last longer than smaller pieces of plant materials. This can make the lifetime of your Hugelculture raised beds as long as 20 years. You have to dig a lot deeper to bury a big tree, though. I think that adds up to whether you choose to work more now or later. Your choice might be influenced by something like your age and health.

In case you are wondering how it is possible to raise banana trees in cold areas, I will give you a ve basic idea of how Sepp Holzer's version of Permaculture works. He uses existing microclimates in an area which will include spots that are warmer than the surrounding area and keeps tweaking them to increase the warmth. Boulders or rock formations on a cliff will retain heat from the sun and release it at night, making it warmer nearby. There are many other examples explained in great detail in Sepp Holzer's book.

I wrote more about Sepp Holzer's methods so that you will look into it more and not immediately dismiss the amazing things that you will be able to do by using his methods, as impossible. Learning more about it could save your life and make the rest of your life happy.

Comments

Sounds like a good idea.

they grow banana trees in england, they get a frost and kills off the flower before the fingers set in, often... if your in the panhandle of alaska, possibly grow them in a container, on a pallet skid... box it up 3' high.. and able to move it in the fall... especially if you get one of the dwarf kinds.
 
Sounds like a good idea.

they grow banana trees in england, they get a frost and kills off the flower before the fingers set in, often... if your in the panhandle of alaska, possibly grow them in a container, on a pallet skid... box it up 3' high.. and able to move it in the fall... especially if you get one of the dwarf kinds.
Your idea is good until you can get a microclimate going like Sepp Holzer does. He grows his outdoors. You will probably like his ideas.
 

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Alaska
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