Making Banana Skin Fertiliser

I had an enormous amount of fun using some old banana skins to make some banana skin fertiliser for my gardening endeavours. Gardening is my new passion. I think I have the potential to be quite green fingered… although right now they are more of a mouldy grey/green on account of the lichen branches I have been chopping up with my small snippy tool and my large snippy tool. I tell you. Give me a few months, I will be a proud possessor of ten green fingers!

Anyway, back to the matter in hand.

Why Do Banana Skins Make Such Good Fertilisers?

We all know banana are a power house in the nutritional stakes, but did you know that banana skins are chock a block with nutrition, especially the nutrients plants love so much. Now, I’m not suggesting you eat them. I’m guessing there are many reasons why that would not be a good idea. But I do like the idea of using up all of a particular food, thus decreasing waste. Bananas are a rich source of potassium, phosphorus, and calcium, and there are multiple ways of extracting those nutrients for your plants.

Using Banana Skins in Your Garden

Extracting all those goodies from the banana skins can be as simple as chucking them onto your compost heap to decompose. Or maybe throwing them into your wormer to allow the worms to do their magic. Another idea is to dry them and then grind them into a powder. This powder can be added to the soil. Another idea is to add the cut up banana skins directly to your soils. But you need to make sure they are all covered up. Lastly, you can make a banana tea. This can then be added to your watering can to feed and water at the same time. I did this today, and thought I’d share it with you.

How to make Banana Skin Fertiliser

Gather together a collection of banana skins, a pair of scissors, a jar, water, material and a dark place to store it:

You need to cut the skins up using the scissors and pop them into the jar. Fill it up with water, ensuring the banana skins are covered:

Cut a circle out of the material and cover the top of the jar tightly. Hold in place with an elastic band:

Place it in a dark place for up to ten days. Add to water with a dilution rate of one cup fertiliser to five cups of water:

What to do with the banana skins afterwards?

In order to ensure zero waste, add the banana skins to your compost. Or as I did, dig a long trough and scatter the skins and then cover them up. They’ll decompose and add even more nutrition to your soil.

Further Reading