Do you remember the song, "Yes, we have no bananas"?

Warning: Do not have dinner with strangers, who also garden.

So my DDW arranged a couples dinner with one of her bridge-buddies last night. We husbands meekly went along with the arrangement. He is a gardener. I know so because the two ladies exchange fruit, in season, at their weekly sessions.

Among other edibles, he grows bananas. My figs are right now the only things that are ripe in my garden. We arranged to swap figs for bananas today.

So I arrive with a few figs (it's the end of the breba season) and expected a clump of bananas. (They're good for you -- see Tiger Woods always chomping on one between shots on television.)

He showed me his banana "plantation." It started with one small plant and now threatens to overtake the back yard. WOW.

So I expected the bananas in exchange for my figs -- but, no way. He had his landscaper cut out one of the baby banana plants and had it bagged for me. He and his wife have probably consumed my figs -- but I am stuck with this baby.

Now ours is a relatively small lot, and fairly neatly landscaped -- with my comestibles tucked away around the perimeter and next to the south side of the house. What would I do?

So I did the only sensible thing -- and planted it in a large pot. (see below.) It now measures 36" to the top of the highest leaf. And now we are standing back -- and waiting -- and waiting. Sooner or later it have to go into the ground, but where? (Maybe one of my trees will die in the interim.) Who knows?

Any suggestions?

: )

Like free kittens!

L Tilton~

You know, you're right.

We used to have a most prolific -- and promiscuous -- cat named Noodie. She was un-neutered, courtesy of our daughter's concern. When the frequent litters arrived, we would hold our patience until they started to drink from a saucer -- and then I threatened to give them swimming lessons in our Hav-a-hart trap.

This motivated our daughter to take the kittens to school in a box, and persuade her class-mates to adopt them.

This went on unabated until the principal of the school blew the whistle on it. The parents of the kids who succumbed to our daughter's wiles were loudly protesting.

Luckily, Noodie ran away -- and the quandary was finally settled.

Be well

: )

Banana plants don't die! They just multiply! Don't ever take it out of the pot. Better yet! Let the pot fall into the canal. Believe me, you will thank me later or would you prefer a banana plantation on your property?

Tplant~

I have this sneaking feeling that you are right. This island was a coconut plantation before the housing came in. It was owned by John Ringling, of circus fame.

Anyhow, it's a big pot.

Be well

: )

Only water it a little and it will not grow. Ours freeze back every winter so spread little.

My DIL bought one banana plant at Walmart and planted it. I ignored it and kind of enjoyed it especially when it fruited in the second year but then the horror began. It started to send up rhizomes or new shoots. I started to clip them because I only wanted one fifteen foot banana tree not six. It was a never ending battle. They just kept coming up. I couldn't take it anymore so I would chop out the three inch diameter shoots that appear overnite and pour weed killer on them but they grew even faster. Because of the construction on school property upon which we live they had to move our home and plow over the area including the banana plants. I no longer will have anything to do with them. I buy all my bananas from Publix supermarket.
After all the plowing and construction over the area where the bananas were-- guess what happened??? The school now has four banana plants and plenty more to come but not on our piece of ground.. LOL

Until they creep over the lot line!

I think I see another Invaders article forming up.

I believe, I believe, I believe.

I remember planting a couple of bamboo plants. Ecccchhhh.

And this week I have been tearing out some bougainvillea that I innocently planted as a low, innocuous hedge. Instead, it became a barbed-wire-like Great Wall.

Why do weeds flourish in pavement cracks, and beautiful plants die? I guess it's survival of the fittest -- not, necessarily, the most desirable.

(Except, that is, for tomatoes and peppers growing in sewage sludge.)

OK. I believe, I believe, I believe, The banana baby will stay potted.

Be well.

: )

Flyboy what else do you have to do. They don't grow that fast but a few years pass and you can remember when lol. I have them planted by the water they do fine fruits good. I use them for a blind so the people across the way get to look at them lol I have the figs too mine have been out for a while brown turkey don't know the name of other. They are just starting little figs. I live in polk county at the flea markets here there are fruit trees showing up that look pretty good. Barbados cherry, Necterines Plums Decent prices Peaches passion fruit vines. I remember when I was a kid in Ct. next door had a Bing Cherry we were like birds they had to chase us out everyday lol If you would like something like this let me know I can give you a phone #. Dana

Dana:

I have plenty to do. Tomorrow at 6:30AM I am going out fishing in the Gulf.

But, to get back to the banana sprout -- here it is today. It's grown six inches -- and that is a brand new leaf in the foreground. It's staying in the pot !!!

: )

As for the fig trees -- I have five. Here they are.

Left to right -- "Black" fig (that's what my neighbor called it when he gave me a cutting.) Brown Turkey ( I bought.) Violette (I bought -- but it's a slow producer.) Green Ischia (I bought.) and .. "White" fig. (This is another from my neighbor. It started as a small cutting -- and is fantastic. )

The stunted plant in front is a Myer lemon -- which didn't blossom this year -- so I cut it back.

: )

LoL If I were you I would be going fishing too. But some of us have to work. I fish Ruskin camp alot Simmons Park snook, red fish, You know they have changed the laws with the hooks and for the reef fishing you have to buy the kit. Lets the air out of grouper so they can get back down. Sold my big boat 6 months ago. My friend that I fish with can't take the heat anymore too big for me to handle sat 6 months so I let it go. Catch a cobia for me. Dana

As for the fig fruit -- I got two brebas this year, that's all. But the main crop is burgeoning.

Here is a top cluster from the "White." It is loaded -- and is the tastiest. They are already as big as golf balls.

Be well

: )

Looking good mine are no way that size not even half.

We fish about fifteen miles out -- less than fifty feet of water. These yellow-tailed snapper are the tastiest. Lucky for GPS. My neighbor has a few hot spots memorized in the system, so we go point to point. Not like the old days of wandering around.

The few fish we get are expensive, considering the cost of fuel -- but it's fun.

: )

We're about forty or so miles south -- and we have them on the southwest side of the house. So -- that must make a difference.

Be well

: )

Here it is, today. About eight feel tall -- and climbing.

Any predictions as to when I'll be picking them?

: )

I think it takes about 16 months to get bananas i have quite a few different ones here you should have a really big one then a medium size then pup thats how the cycle works so that there always coming. You should get the Ice Cream it has blueish leaves and has a hint of vanilla ice cream. I have one here from Hawaii that has a double stalk every time. Williams hybrid is what you buy in the stores. There is alot of neat ones out the some with orange meat and some with pink.

dana~

Sounds like you have a large lot. Not I. And my DDW limits the anount of it I can use for edibles. So, I'll start with this solitary plant for awhile.

Sixteen moinths is not bad. Do they continue to have bunches on one plant?

I know that it'll spread -- even though you can see that it was just a "pup" in June.

Be well

: )

When you get a bunch and there ready you chop the it down to get them. Thats were the younger ones come into play she will only produce once then the middle ones next and it keeps going were you always have large medium and small plants. I have acre and quarter have a 2 acre pond that is a part of mine bananas are there they like it moist. I have found over 150 different ones

When they finish construction I will definetly get a vanilla ice cream although I have never tasted one but have heard good things about the flavor.

I got hooked on them have maybe a doz. different ones even a few just for the looks tropical the eneste is awesome for just a really cool looking plant and the red siam ruby is another out standing plant. All my property is tropical. Have a small hawaii going on here lol I have over a doz different fruit trees thats why we live in fla grow our own. ;)

It might be a good idea -- to grow your own, that is.

I have my snook light on every night, and am getting a larger freezer.

Be well

: )

OK now I hate you! LOL Yes I going to Ruskin for the weekend see what I can do. How about Mullet? Those are the best smoked fish I ever had. When I go home I always get the smoked shad is always good but I would take mullet over that

We have mullet dancing in our turning basin, quite frequently. We use a spear to catch them. They are good if they are quickly gutted and broiled. I've never tried to smoke them.

They have made a healthy return since the county stopped the commercial netters from sweeping them out of our canals.

Be well

: )

Heres something to try butterfly one clean it put it on the grill and get a good barbacue sause add cavenders spice honey molasses garlic chopped onion very small maybe a little brown sugar mix it up and spread in on the fish as it cooks oh la la excellent! Or if you smoke them you take 2 cups of deboned meat and 1 pack of good seasons salad dressing dry mix mix it in and then add buttermilk till its stiff not to loose your eating this with crackers add hot sause to taste this is also very good I have a 12 ft net. I am leaveing shortly to go to Simmons Park have been fishing there for years its only 10 bucks a nite to stay I would love to live there. As a matter of fact there haveing Seafood Festival there tomorrow last festival they had there I bought a lot of gingers there cheap they sell the roots 2-3$ a root there very big alot of curcumas too. If you and your wifes don't have plans take a ride. Its usally pretty good, good food If you don't know what cavenders is check it out Wal mart carrys it publix does too. good on salads steaks a greek seasoning you be well ;)

I have a smaller net, but I never got the knack of throwing it successfully. Mostly i just spook them. It's easier to spear them. A lot of the locals jig for them off the bridges.

I'll check out that cavenders. Sounds good.

Thanks

Be well

:)

flyboyFL,
I think I have a solution for you. Try cooking your fish in banana leaves. They are really yummy that way. Also, you can make tamales using banana leaves. and you can staple them into little cups and bake fish mousse in them. I say, if they threaten to inundate you -- eat them!

pajaritomt~

You've got it, by gosh you've got it.

Now, all I need is banana fruit.

Be well

: )

Heres a couple from the weekend , seafood festival wasn't that great, but fishing was!

Looking good!

Oh for a return to the redfish fishing of old. We could fill a basket -- but that was before the exotic chefs started the "Blackened Redfish" craze

Yes, I remember the red fishing of long ago. We ate a lot of them then. They were nearly made extinct by the blackened redfish craze. Now they are coming back, but I would love to see the days when you caught ones that were 3 ft. long. What a banquet you could make on one of those!

The big ones taste terrible. The best size are 20-24 inches just like big snook don't taste good either.But the best is cobia that tastes good any size

Hmm. Guess I didn't know the difference when I was a kid.

We used to steak-out the big ones and saute them, dipped in pancake batter and eggs. The medium sized ones we stuffed and baked. They did look gorgeous, laid out on a decorated platter!

We would fish them off of our dock. They hung out under the boats -- and seemed always hungry. Those were the days!

The Smithsonian Magazine recently had an article featuring fishing pictures after a day trip, starting back in 1850, here on the Florida West Coast. The early photos showed giant grouper -- looked like fifty pounders. Day trippers could fill a barrel with them.

As the years went on, the fish in the photos became smaller and smaller -- and less and less plentiful. The recent photos of catches were fish that the earlier anglers would have used for bait.

I guess we would have to completely give up on eating fish were it not for the farmed variety. Something similar to eating fish along the Mediterranean coast -- where whole fish cost more than our lobsters.

Thank goodness we can still get nourishment from our gardens.

:)

It is sad that we have so depleted all of our fisheries. Fish is a very healthy food but too many people are fishing for them. Unfortunately many of the farmed fish pollute the ocean around them and are often fed food with lots of heavy metals. I rarely eat fish any more, but not because I don't like it.
My dad used to come home with huge red snapper when I was a kid that were incredibly delicious. Now most red snapper for sale isn't really red snapper.
I wish people would go after the snakehead fish that has escaped and is invading the Chesapeake bay area. They are great eating and we don't need any more invasive fish in our water ways. Snakeheads are also great game fish -- really putting up a fight.

You guys bring back such memories that unfortuneately our grandchildren can never enjoy as we did. I lived on Long Island and the Great South Bay and fish flounders and fluke galore. so much that we would always have to quit early cause we did not want to overfish or waste. Oh how I wish I could go back to those days? See what you started!

We were back in Boston last weekend, for a granddaughter's wedding. (The middle one -- two more spinsters to go.) Our little spare time was spent eating seafood.

First stop, Anthony's Pier Four. Anthony (an old friend) is long deceased -- but the cachet remains. Of course, we had Boston Scrod. Nothing can compare. Brought back old times.

Next Chinatown, where the best Chinese food in the world can be found. We had lobsters (with ginger and scallions) and clams in black bean sauce and a whole steamed flounder. -- and, of course, steamed bean pod leaves with garlic. (We actually went back again for a repeat.)

And we stopped in at Legal Seafood (at Logan, on oir way back) for real (white) clam chowder and fried clams. (With the bellies, of course.)

Prices are a little different from the old days.

But, when I had a spare summer after high school, I worked at the Fish Pier as a Western Union messenger, for twenty cents an hour. (That's right $0.20/hour) Minumum wages were thirty cents an hour, then; but I was not involved in Interstate Commercw, so I didn't qualify. But, a heaping plate of clams was twenty-five cents -- so i made out. (And they were deep-fried before you, not frozen and reheated!)

Big lobster bodies were a nickel -- after the tails and claws were removed by the packers.

Tempus fugit.

Be well

: )

Ah, that all sounds so good flyboy. I have dined on fish in Boston and loved it and look for Legal Sea food wherever I go. There are at least 2 in DC but my first exposure to it was in Boston. Great restaurant. Prices better than most places. Sigh. I agree those were the days.