A woman has shared a “genius” hack to help get more flowers from your roses this summer by using a popular kitchen waste item, and people can’t wait to try it out
Garden enthusiasts are currently revelling in the sight of their roses in full bloom, but there’s a simple trick to encourage even more blossoms. Jocelyn, a gardening expert and founder of The Reading Residence, was thrilled to find that feeding spent banana peels to roses can provide them with a boost, promoting stronger growth.
She said: “I discovered that if I feed them with banana skins it encourages bigger, better blooms. It may sound strange, but adding banana peels to the soil around roses in the summer will release potassium, which helps regulate water and nutrient transport within the plant to grow more abundant flowers.”
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Potassium also enhances a rose’s ability to deal with stress and its immune system, which can help it resist fungal diseases common in the summer to keep healthy. Bananas are also a great nutrient source of calcium, magnesium and phosphorous which also contribute to strong root growth and flowering to help get more blooms.
All you have to do is save up banana peels in a container until they begin to discolour and then cut them into pieces. Bury them in the soil near roses to avoid attracting pests, then the banana peels will naturally decompose and slowly release the nutrients over time to help the flowers thrive.
Jocelyn said: “I kept hold of them for a few days, so that they’d started to decompose, then chopped them up a little so I could spread them out among all of my roses. I then dug a little dirt out by each of my roses roots, scattered a few peelings, and covered them back over. Simple!”
Feed roses banana peels every two to four weeks and give them a good water after every feed to help the nutrients seep into the soil, reports the Express.
In Jocelyn’s comment section, people praised the gardener for her excellent tip and said they would try it out. One user said: “How easy is that?! We eat at least 12 bananas a week here and usually just chuck them in the compost. I will now begin adding them to our roses!”
Another person wrote: “What a great tip! I never knew that, I am hoping to get some roses this year (I am a very novice gardener) so I will be trying this!”
Someone else wrote: “Wow – I love tips like this! Thank you, Jocelyn…I’ve only got a few roses, but it will be bananas for pudding tonight, and rose feeding tomorrow morning!”
