My grandmother swore by banana peels for roses, I called her crazy for 3 years

She said to bury one peel per bush near the roots before bloom season. I thought she was just being old-school and ignored her advice for three straight springs. Last April I finally tried it on my two knockout roses and the difference in bloom size was insane. One plant got way more flowers and deeper color than the one I left alone. Has anyone else actually tested this old gardening trick or am I just lucky?

2 comments

2 Comments

margaret991mo ago

Oh man, I had the exact same thing happen with my mom and her weird eggshell obsession for tomatoes! I rolled my eyes for years until I finally tried crushing them up around my plants and the calcium boost was legit, way less blossom end rot that season. I mean, sometimes the old folks really do know what they're talking about, even if it sounds totally bonkers at first.

rodriguez.diana1mo ago

Did you just crush them up dry or did you boil them first to break them down faster? I tried just grinding them into powder once and felt like it took forever to actually do anything for the soil, but my neighbor swears by soaking them in vinegar overnight first. Curious if there's a trick to making them work quicker without waiting half a season.