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Cornucopia - Australia

Growing fruiting bananas in Melbourne

19 years ago

I saw on the news the other night a story about two households growing bananas in their Melbourne backyards. Most impressive! The only bananas I'd seen in Melb were ornamental ones, and those were growing in a seaside suburb. One of these 'mini-plantations' was in the eastern suburb of Doncaster--not by the bayside.

One of the men said that, six years ago when he filled in the inground pool and planted the area with bananas, his family thought he was crazy. 'Now look who's laughing', he said :-)

One of the bananas was tasted by a so-called expert, who gave it a six out of ten for taste--considered a very good result so far south. What a fantastic result ...

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Comments (7)

aroideana
19 years ago
Remember seeing many stands of Bananas when riding the Frankstone train line .
cestrum
Original Author
19 years ago
With fruit?
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nicefrog
19 years ago
The shear amount of concrete in Melbourne makes the city MUCH...MUCH warmer at night than Southern Victoria has any right to be. So yep there are tons of fruiting bananas in Melbourne and has been for years and years. The funniest thing is that the most cool tolerent variety anyone is growing is lady finger and they could be giving themselves a much better start with other varieties
pepino
19 years ago
Not a lot of concrete where I am. What varieties do you suggest Nicefrog? And where is it best to get them from?
jadler
18 years ago
I'd love to try growing bananas in the Wimmera, although I dont care if they fruit or not. Which variety might be appropriate? We get frost down to -3C over winter, although I'd plant it in a protected area.
paradisi
18 years ago
have a read of the banana forum - the americans plant in half wine barrels and roll them under cover on frosty nights or into the house or greenhouse during the winter.

most melbourne winter days will be warm enough to keep them alive. My sister inlaw has planted a couple of lady fingers this year.

there are a lot of cool climate bananas - mostly seeded or cooking bananas, but they're worth a go if you don't get frosts. -3C would mean you need a himalayan or similar banana - read the banana forum or goolge for low temp bananas

or buy a pup and give it a go....

Here is a link that might be useful: lady finger banana on ebay
Karen_Brown_cgu_com_au
15 years ago
I live in Armadale, close to Melbourne, and last week I harvested a bunch of bananas from my little garden. They are delicious - confirmed by my work colleagues. Bananas are a lot of fun to grow, from the dramatic appearance of the flower to enjoying the fruit eleven months later.

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