It all started with a banana.
Many moons ago when I was a student in the 1980's I got a summer job at Bayfordbury Research Station in Hertfordshire.
My job was counting bean weevils and carabid beetles for a biological control project.
It was a great summer. The sun shone, the work was interesting, my colleagues were easy going and I could even catch a siesta in the bean fields while waiting for the bug traps to fill.
But there was something special about Bayfordbury. Until the late 1960's it had been the home of the John Innes Horticultural Institution. And their tropical research greenhouses were still running.
In one of those greenhouses they grew bananas.
Then on one sunny summer afternoon, after I had been there a few weeks, I was allowed to pick a banana to eat. It was the best banana I had ever tasted.
I was hooked. One day I knew I must grow my own bananas.
If you live in a warm country you might think that is no big deal, but in wild wet and windy west Wales bananas are way, way out of reach.
I have tried growing banana plants in pots in the conservatory but it was all leaves and no action.
To grow bananas here I know I am going to need a tropical greenhouse.
But I don't want just any old greenhouse I want a Victorian style wooden frame greenhouse, with a wood boiler to heat it.
To put this greenhouse in the setting it deserves I want to build a walled garden around it.
I love visiting old country houses that have walled gardens. We have friends a few miles from here who have one - jealous I am... but they don't grow bananas.
My walled garden will not just be any ordinary brick built affair.
I want mine to be built of Welsh granite. With walls at least 6 feet tall, capped off with Welsh slate and beautiful quartz that will glisten in the sun.
All the stone will come from our land and a nearby quarry.
But I do not want these walls to steal too much of the sunlight from the crops inside. So on the front south side I want to include stained glass windows to allow the sun's rays to dance and dazzle on the vegetables on the inside.
I am still wondering what those windows might depict. One window for each member of the family to start, and then whatever the muses tell me.
As well as rocks aplenty, we are blessed with an ample supply of wood. It would be so good if we could use our own timber. I am sure though that green timber building would not work for a greenhouse so the trees will need to be cut and cured well in advance.
All this for a bunch of bananas?
Is this a dream or could it be a reality?
This is my ten year project. It will be based on the existing pig garden where the polytunnel is. The perimeter is about 120m.
I believe the going rate locally for a stonemason to build a wall like this is around £150 per metre. As most of the materials for the wall will be from our land the total cost for the wall will be around £18,000. But if I can learn the skill of dry stone walling I can build a few metres a year and reduce the cost.
My wife wants to learn stain glass window making.
The cost for the greenhouse will be around £5000 and the boiler will be a similar amount. There might be grants available for the wood boiler.
Using our own materials and some of our own labour we should be able to keep the total cost for the project to around £10,000 (US $ 13,500), or £1,000 (US $1,350) a year for ten years
This is of course a ridiculous amount of money to pay for a bunch of bananas.
But this is my dream, my folly, my legacy for those that come after me.
This concept is still all in my head. The next stage will be to visualize it. To take the project forward I would love to tap into the creative talent of steemit to run a contest to produce an 'artists impression' or concept design of how this might look. That will be the next step on my journey to realise my dream.
This post is my entry in the Homesteading Challenge #4 by @kiaraantonoviche
If you found this post useful or interesting please do upvote, resteem and follow. Thank you.
You might also be interested in some of my other posts :
Pennsif's Progress - The Days are Numbered // Day 907 : Where should I put my nuts?
Pennsif's Progress - The Days are Numbered // Day 919 : Goodbye young cockerel, hello new friends
Calling Wales, Calling Wales - any steemit citizens from Wales or living in Wales?
Does steemit need a referral reward system? Recruit a Friend to steemit - CONTEST PROPOSAL?
SteemTowns - connecting the virtual with the reality - would it be possible?
[banana and garden/polytunnel images provided by @pennsif // greenhouse image by Vernon39 (own work) [public domain], via Wikimedia Commons // walled garden image by Chris Wood via Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license // stained glass image from Pixabay under CC0 Creative Commons license]
Oh my goodness this is so cool! I had this dream when I lived in Wisconsin, but then I just up and moved back to the tropics!
I had a recent post on cleaning a bunch of bananas, but those are way too big for you, you want some dwarf bananas! I have a variety not much taller than myself!
'Smuggling' in the banana corms might be something awesome that I could help with - unless there is a local supplier of banana corms in UK?
You have my full support! I hope to do an article soonish about all the different banana and plantain varieties down here.
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Stone masons say that all you need to be a stone mason is a weak mind and a strong back. It's true. Stone masonry is not rocket science. There are a few basic rules to follow and the rest is just hard labor. I bought a thin, paperback How-To book, I think it might have been a Sunset Guide out of California and then build a 10 meter retaining wall. Took a long time but it turned out beautifully.
Follow that dream. My mother always wanted a greenhouse and to raise chrysanthemums. I offered to build her one but she said that it would cost too much, even though she had plenty of money. And then she died. She never had her greenhouse. I've taken that lesson to heart. Don't wait. Go for it. Best of luck.
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No dream is impossible! A 10-year plan is not a bad idea, but leave some wriggle room for adjustments to the plan. We had a 10-year plan for our homestead. We are into year six and I think we may extend the time frame just a little. Sometimes certain phases of construction take a little longer for various reasons; weather, availability of materials and of course costs rising exponentially. But dreams do come true and we are eating our own bananas!
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Growing bananas in Wales! I had to read!
The concept sounds divine. I think the expense will be worth it, as a construction such as this would be around to be enjoyed long after you've gone and should be beautiful enough to inspire others in the future to keep it in repair.
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:)
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I dunno much about Wales, but I knew a guy that grew bananas in OR, USA, prolly not much south of your latitude.
However, he grew where in the summer was almost all sunny days, and this is pretty important, I think, for bananas. Particularly if you are going to alter the wavelengths of light that is passed through the stained glass (sounds beautiful, BTW), you may want to research the particular light requirements of bananas.
Mayhap, you'll find it necessary to add lighting to allow the bananas to fruit.
I once grew a Monstera deliciosa (I call it a split-leaf philodendron, cuz mom did) in my living room. I acquired SAD (seasonal affective disorder) diagnosis, and to combat it I put a 1kw halide light in the LR. My houseplant flowered, and it was amazing. That's when I did some research to find out the plant was actually a food producing crop in the tropics, but the fruit is not commercially viable, for reasons not having to do with nutrition or taste.
Without high intensity light, they don't bother to flower. M. deliciosa can live almost centuries under the shade of the jungle canopy, without ever flowering, but when one of the giants falls, and opens up the sky, they fruit generously - and deliciously, hence the name.
Bananas, I'm thinking, might benefit from more intense light, or the entire frequency range of natural sunlight (which stained glass will change), and you might wanna think about that, in Wales.
Don't let that stop you from reaching your dreams! =)
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It is very nice if you would grow your own bananas, it is a great gruit, the banana plants it is very beautiful, very usesful, for example the leaves are uses for make tamales, and the plant is uses for food of chicken and cows.
Good luck with this proyect, and enjoy it.
Best regard @galberto
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That sounds like an amazing greenhouse! You've been entered into the challenge! Thank you!
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That sound A-mazing!! I would also love to have green house like that, but my budgeting skills are poor. I love the look of it though! I like your plan and I'm anxious to see the next step.
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I can't wait to see this dream come to fruition! Definitely keep us updated. I've never considered a tropical greenhouse, thought I'm sure many of my plants would enjoy it considerably. Good luck!
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What a great idea and challenge! Would be amazing to see it come to fruition.. I think they only thing that puts me of is that don't banana's die after they've fruited? All that work and the poof. Dead. :\
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Only the top dies. Pups will sprout from the roots.
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Aha! That's good to know. And now my own banana dreams are rekindled. :D
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I love your greenhouse idea. In temperate climates greenhouse is the way to go, but that Victorain style greenhouse is probably the most beautiful you can make. And the walled garden - I assume the wall is to provide some thermal mass for microclimates, not sure if that's the main purpose though - sounds fantastic, especially with the stained glass windows. It reminds me of ruins of a monastery, but one where the windows were kept in tact. And with a garden inside it will be super lovely. Best thing of all: you and your wife want to build it, or participate building it, yourselves!
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Sounds like a great Homesteading dream. I mentioned the romance of somewhere else the other day to you while it was raining and raining! Well I guess bananas are the same...we grow them here with ease...but not peaches or apples..LOL! My favorite varitey are applebananas...They are small and pudgy...great flavor..
The wall and victorian greenhouse pictures were my idea of a great dream as well, extremely picturesque!
Melissa
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Wow sounds great!!!! Keep reaching and dreaming!!!
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hubby and I had a dream 6 yrs ago about how our terrasse would look like some day - this year we were able to make it come true... using our own hands, having help from neighbours and using the material of our region: basalt.... once you have this goal (be it bananas:-)) fullfillment is on its way
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Omggggggg how beautiful!!! I want a greenhouse and the dove stained glass is gorgeous! Lmaooooo re bananas, did you show @amabir in steemit bloggers? His nickname is banana. LoL
I love this post, thank you for sharing!! xx
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