When Life Gives You Banana's Make Bread-And Fertilizer

My local store sells overly ripe banana's for a dime each.  I can't pass them by.  I make some great banana bread (just ask my family and neighbors) and you gotta have ripe ones for the best bread.  I usually buy all they have, freezing the peeled fruit until I'm ready to bake.

Enough for 2 batches

The peels could easily be composted, but I prefer to use them as fertilizer for my roses.

Banana peels are a good source of potassium and also supply a bit of phosphorus.  They have an NPK of 0-3-42.

My favorite way to use the peel is to cut it into small pieces and freeze it before using.

The freezing changes the cell structure of the peels and as they thaw they break down more quickly in the garden.

When the peels are frozen, dig a couple of holes around your rose bush and bury about a cup of peels in each one.  Cover with soil to keep rodents from digging them up. 

Some google searching found other (interesting) ways to use banana peels.
1. When transplanting roses, place a banana peel (and some say a tea bag) at the bottom of the hole.
2. Put peels in a 350 degree oven and bake until crisp, than bury next to your rose bushes.
3. Freeze and put through a food processor than bury around your plants
4. Make banana-peel tonic. Cut the peels of a banana into a spray bottle and cover with warm water. Put the lid back on the bottle and leave for 2 weeks. The peels will ferment. Spray the rose bushes with this liquid.
I plan to give these other methods a try, and would love to hear from readers who use banana peels around their plants.
Be well and happy gardening.