A drying contraption for herbs; fruit and vegetables.

Bananas have grown over winter and are now ripening in the shed. This is a hybrid between Ladies finger Bananas and Cavendish Bananas. This B'tree does not grow tall and is easier to look after and to harvest the Bananas. After the harvest the whole Banana tree is cut down and is composted. These Bananas have a fantastic taste; bought Bananas are no comparison.



Banana plants are of the family Musaceae. They are cultivated primarily for their fruit, and to a lesser extent for the production of fibre and as ornamental plants. As the bananas are mainly tall, upright, and fairly sturdy, they are often mistaken for trees, when the truth is the main or upright stem is called a pseudostem, literally meaning "fake stem", which for some species can obtain a height of up to 2–8 m, with leaves of up to 3.5 m in length. Each pseudostem can produce a bunch of yellow, green, or even red bananas before dying and being replaced by another pseudostem.
The banana fruit grow in hanging clusters, with up to 20 fruit to a tier (called a hand), and 3-20 tiers to a bunch. The total of the hanging clusters is known as a bunch, or commercially as a "banana stem", and can weigh from 30–50 kg. The fruit averages 125 g, of which approximately 75% is water and 25% dry matter content. Each individual fruit (known as a banana or 'finger') has a protective outer layer (a peel or skin) with a fleshy edible inner portion. Both skin and inner part can be eaten raw or cooked. Western cultures generally eat the inside raw and throw away the skin while some Asian cultures generally eat both the skin and inside cooked. Typically, the fruit has numerous strings (called 'phloem bundles') which run between the skin and inner part.


Bananas are a valuable source of vitamin B6, vitamin C, and potassium.





If you are interested to read more about Bananas please look up


http://wikipedia.






The drying contraption works very well. It has a lot of room, much better and easier to work with than my electric dryer. The Inside is painted black and on the sides it has small ventilation holes. It is easy to carry around. It works very well for drying fruits, vegetables and herbs. Here I am going to dry Italian parsley.Solar power in action.







Tzigane is a new climbing rose I bought in Winter. I thought the colour would be brash. The colour is perfect and the perfume is heavenly. The rose is very simple, holds well...

and fades away gracefully.

Tomatoes are looking good so far not like the last crop which was a complete flop. Why? Winter was cold and wet.

Tree-fern; Cyathea australis

Tree-ferns largest of the ferns can provide a spectacular addition to most gardens. The tree-ferns Cyathea australis and Cyathea cooperi are commonly grown in gardens for their aesthetic appeal and their hardiness. Both of these species are of the fern family Cyatheraceae.
C. australis is commonly known as the Rough Tree Fern due to the presence of adventitious roots, tubercles (knobbly bits) and masses of hair-like scales on its ‘trunk’. The ‘trunk’ like structure on a tree-fern is actually a greatly enlarged rhizome! The horticultural appeal of C. australis is not only due to its beautiful looks but also because it is an extremely hardy species, even capable of tolerating direct sun when the roots are wet. It is also a robust tub plant and is unusual in that it is tolerant of salty winds. C. australis is thus a popular, cold-hardy tree-fern, adaptable to a variety of climates and soils.
C. cooperi, the Lacy Tree Fern, derives this name from its delicate fronds. It is also known as the Australian Tree Fern as it is one of the most commonly grown Australian tree-ferns.
C. cooperi is quite distinctive from C. australis in that it has a more slender trunk with distinctive "coin spots" where old fronds have broken off the trunk. C. cooperi fronds are bright green and lacy and tend to be very fast growing. There are several major horticultural varieties of this fern including Cyathea ‘Brentwood’ which has paler fronds and scales and C. ‘Robusta’ which tends to be darker in both characters. C. cooperi is the one of the most popular tree ferns, along with Dicksonia antarctica due to its rapid growth form, hardiness and aesthetic appeal.
Distribution:
C. australis is found along much of the east coast of Australia, extending right down into Tasmania. It prefers moist mountain areas and can grow on dryer slopes then most other tree ferns.
C. cooperi is naturally found in tropical lowlands, along the coast of Queensland and New South Wales.
Propagation:
These two species cannot be propagated vegetatively (unlike some other tree-ferns) as they do not produce offsets from the trunk or roots. Propagation from spores must therefore be employed; for detail of these steps please see this page: http://www.blogger.com/ferns/fern.spore.prop.html

Maintenance: Tree-ferns grow best in high humidity and high soil moisture conditions. It is therefore important to use good-quality mulches and to top them up regularly as this will not only keep the soil moist but also provide nutrients to the shallow root system. Tree-ferns usually respond well to organic fertilizers and well-rotted animal manures, C. cooperi especially as it tends to display particularly vigorous growth.

Text by Ali Heydon (Botanical Intern 2003)
References
Jones, D.L. 1987, Encyclopaedia of Ferns, Lothian, Melbourne.
Jones, D.L. Clemesha, S.C. 1980, Australian Ferns and Fern Allies, Reed, Wellington.
Harvey, R. Fagg, M. Growing ferns from spores, Australian National Botanic Gardens leaflet published online at:http://www.anbg.gov.au/ferns/fern.spore.prop.htmlUpdated 18 July, 2002.
Ian Barclay, Cold Hardy Tree Ferns, Published Online at: http://www.angelfire.com/bc/eucalyptus/treeferns/Last updated: December 8th, 2002.

Soft Tree-fern
Dicksonia antarctica
Habitat: Gullies of tall, moist forests
Season: All year
Aboriginal People used the soft, starchy pith from the top part (0.5m) of the stem. They split the stem, scooped out the pith and ate it raw or roasted in ashes.
The Tasmanians preferred the Rough Tree-fern, Cyathea australis, because it tasted better than the smooth Tree-fern. The smooth Tree-fern is the one which is usually grown in home gardens.

A simply, lovely daylily; Ash Rose.

The interesting fluffy flowers of Jaboticaba growing and flowering all over the tree.

If you would like to read more about Jaboticaba please go to my post

July is the middle of Winter 2.July 08.

Believe it or not:
In the country of the blind the one-eyed man is king:

Erasmus c.1469 - 1536

Organic tip of the week: PEPPERMINT

Peppermint tea hot or cold is delightful to drink. Use Peppermint in Asian soups, coleslaw or other salads; it helps the digestion and is super tasty!

Peppermint (Mentha × piperita) is a hybrid mint, a cross between watermint (Mentha aquatica) and spearmint (Mentha spicata). The plant is indigenous in Europe and now widespread in cultivation throughout all regions of the world. It is found wild occasionally with its parent species.
It was first described by Linnaeus from specimens collected in England; he treated it as a species, but it is now universally agreed to be a hybrid.
It typically occurs in moist habitats, including streamsides and drainage ditches. It is usually sterile, producing no seeds and reproducing only vegetatively, spreading by its rhizomes.
Peppermint is sometimes regarded as 'the world's oldest medicine', with archaeological evidence placing its use at least as far back as ten thousand years ago
Peppermint, like many spices and herbs, is believed to have medicinal properties when consumed. It is said that it helps against upset stomachs, inhibits the growth of certain bacteria, and can help soothe and relax muscles when inhaled or applied to the skin. Other health benefits are attributed to the high manganese, vitamin C and vitamin A content; as well as trace amounts of various other nutrients such as fibre, iron, calcium, folate, potassium, tryptophan, magnesium, omega-3 fatty acids, riboflavin, and copper.
Peppermint flowers are large nectar producers and honey bees as well as other nectar harvesting organisms forage them heavily. A mild, pleasant varietal honey can be produced if there is a sufficient area of plants.
Peppermint generally thrives in shade and expands quickly by underground rhizomes. If you choose to grow peppermint, it is advisable to plant it in a container, otherwise it can rapidly take over a whole garden. It needs a good water supply, and is ideal for planting in part-sun to shade areas.
The leaves and flowering tops are the usable portion of the plant. They are collected as soon as the flowers begin to open and then are carefully dried. The wild form of the plant is less suitable for this purpose, with cultivated plants having been selected for more and better oil content. Seeds sold at stores labelled peppermint generally will not germinate into true peppermint, but into a particularly poor-scented spearmint plant. The true peppermint might rarely produce seeds, but only by fertilisation from a spearmint plant, and contribute only their own spearmint genes.


Have a nice Day!

Copyright: T.S. 2008

Photos T.S.