Since my Mother swears by what banana skins have done for her ferns, I've deced to try them for my container gardening this year. Bananas have high levels of phosporus and potassium and along with nitrogen are the three elements most rapidly removed from soil.

If I remember my biology from high school and my zoology & botany from university, phosphorus is essential for both photosynthesis in plants and cellular respiration in animals. Unfortunately I can't remember what the potassium is needed for.

In years past I've always used Miracle Gro (that blue, crystalline fertlizer) on my plants and they have done nicely. So this summer I shall see if the banana skins make my container gardened plants any healthier. I have the biggest hopes for the tomatoes and peppers. Come winter when I bring my orange tree inside I'm going to give it banana skins, too, and maybe it will stay healthier all winter.

While I've never had bad luck with the tomatoes and peppers, they've always been under–performers for me, especially the tomatoes. My herbs have always done well with mild neglect, getting nice and bushy, so I guess a combination of that and not being as experienced a gardener as my Mother has not let my tomatoes and peppers grow to their potential.

Last Saturday at the farmers' market, in addition to some catnip and lemon balm, I picked up two little cherry tomato plants with flower buds already on them. (Not having a driver's licence sucks, so I don't usually get plants until June when I go along with my Mother the teacher on her garden shopping trips when school has ended.) I gave the plants some banana skins today and I am hoping that some early cherry tomatoes from healthy, banana–fed plants will encourage me to be more attentive to the plants that need more than the mild neglect I give my herbs. :-)