Roses are much loved garden plants adored for their stunning blooms that flower from late spring to autumn. However, for them to give off their best display, they do need a little helping hand by gardeners in the form of watering, mulching and most importantly, feeding.
Garden centre shelves are stocked full of a vast array of rose feeds, however, if you fancy trying something different, you can use kitchen waste item to your advantage. Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, all three gardening experts recommended using the same item to give improve rose blooms – banna peels. While some gardeners may be worried about attracting pests to their garden with banana peels, one gardener has shared how to avoid this.
Chris Taylor who runs his own gardening blog claimed that one of the ”most effective food scraps” you can recycle as a fertiliser for roses is the humble banana peel.
He explained that roses are heavy feeders and rely on potassium to “fuel strong growth and abundant flowering”. Banana peels are naturally rich in potassium, as well as calcium and magnesium, all of which support “vibrant blooms, improve disease resistance, and strengthen the overall structure of the plant”.
Chris noted that the “easiest way to use them” is to chop the peel and bury it a few inches into the soil near the base of your rose bush, where it will quickly decompose and release nutrients.
He said: “It’s a simple, sustainable alternative to shop-bought fertilisers – and one that many rose growers swear by.”
Gardening expert and director of LBS Horticulture Richard Barker, pointed out that the potassium in bananas is what makes them effective homemade fertilisers.
He said: “Banana peels are high in potassium, which can strengthen rose stems and increase bud production in the plant.
He advised chopping the peels up into smaller pieces, and then burying these pieces in the soil around the roses.
Alternatively, gardeners can add the chopped peels to a jar of water and leave them to sit for a few days before using it to water roses.
Angelika, a gardening and lawn care expert at Online Turf, described banana peels as being “a great, cheap, and natural way to give your roses a little boost”.
To avoid attracting pests such as fruit flies, ants, or even rodents, Angelika recommends burying them at least 10cm deep at the base of the plant, as close to the root as possible.
Deeper burial will also “speed up” the decomposition process since there will be enough heat and insulation to allow microorganisms in the soil to break the peels down.
This approach works very similarly to if you were using them in a compost pile, while allowing for a very targeted action.
However, this also means that, just like with compost, it will take time for the banana peels to decompose, so do not feel discouraged if you do not see results straight away.
While effective, the expert urged gardeners against burying banana peels too often as this could “throw off your soil’s pH levels”, negatively affecting the growth of your roses.
Angelika said: “I recommend only doing it in spring, to help your roses recover after winter and get them ready for the growing season, and in autumn, to prepare them for winter.”
If you are after a “quicker solution” – make banana peel water. Once you’ve collected your peels, put them in a jar and fill it with water, letting the mixture rest in a dark spot for a few days. The next step is to pour the water into a saucepan and boil it for half an hour.
The idea behind this is that boiling banana peels in the water infuses it with more nutrients than if cold water were used. This then makes it a “better choice if you want to make your roses more prolific”.