This very large plantain leaf is probably not the largest that we grew. However, it is 8 1/2 feet long and over 2 feet wide. This would have impressed me when I was in third grade, because we did not have such large leaves in my neighborhood then.
Monthly Archives: November 2013
Priorities
My machete and I
Felled the tallest plantains
To provide more afternoon sun to my garden. It seems to have helped to cut back the elephant ears earlier this week. You can see some green patches. One thing I am learning is that it is not so easy to grow food. We can grow just a little bit of our food. We got and will get enough plantains to make about nine batches of plantain bread, or about 216 meals. This has been the most prolific part of our garden. If we realize that the plantains are about 1/3 of the ingredients, that means about 72 meals were provided by all those massive plantain plants. This could be enough food for one person for three weeks.
It is a start. But now the plantains are growing slowly, and tattering in the wind. So to give more light to my poor crippled garden I got out my trusty machete and chopped down the tallest plantains at a level which I could reach. I made sure that they would fall where they would not do any damage. There are many small plantains to grow up next year. This year they achieved 24 feet in height, and one of the large leaves was 8 1/2 feet long, and two feet wide.
This is an example of me prioritizing how my garden gets the sunshine. Everything cannot get optimal sun all the time in my back yard
Elephant Ear Leaves With Chair, Used As Mulch
Gigantic elephant ear leaves
One of the broken leaves is three feet long. I trimmed them all back for the fall, and to let more morning light into the garden. I believe that because they are so prolific, they will rebound next spring, if not sooner. In the meantime my winter garden will have a little more winter light.
Elephant ears mostly trimmed out.
And used to “mulch” the plantains/
To let more light into the garden, I cut back the elephant ears. I placed them around the plantains and the trimmed back elephant ears as mulch.