Hello from southeast Texas...pics added

[Denim Deb]

You have green grass! I look out my windows, and I see white! At least, we only got a couple of inches of the stuff.

Not sure if I'd know what to do in that river! I'm not used to dealing w/ANY white water!

How long do banana trees produce?

 

[txcanoegirl]

I love my green grass! You can keep the snow!

The bananas are my husband's province, but it seems the stalks full of bananas had produced by August. Very green, not mature, as in the photo. Then we start sweating it out as to whether they have enough time to mature before the weather gets cold. I think (?) it's about 55 or 56 degrees when the bananas stop maturing. At that point, they still aren't ripe, but if mature enough, they will continue to ripen. At that temperature, he cut off all the stalks of bananas (7 stalks from the two plants), and hung them up in our shed. He kept the shed slightly heated. I can't remember exactly when the first ones started getting ripe, but we kept checking and would cut off whatever bananas were ripe. We have a few left, but have eaten, used, frozen, given away, or cooked with the rest of them. The plant produces on each year's new growth (the pups). The mother plant gets cut back. We do have to protect the banana plants during the winter (he has frost cover over them, plus he runs an extension cord to a light that produces enough heat to keep them warm enough. The light goes inside the frost cover tent and is on a stand on the ground. He put tall fence posts close to the bananas and the frost cover wraps around that to make the "tent."

 

[Wannabefree]

Beautiful pics! I've canoed the Buffalo here in Tennessee a few times when I was younger, once when flooded and looked about like your pic. We rented 3 person aluminum canoes, and hit a downed tree. That hurts the shins. That same trip my friend broker her tail bone jumping from the cliff over the river and landing hard the wrong way on the water. I walked away with some serious brusies from that trip, but thankfully no broken bones I haven't been canoeing in years! I've been wanting to make the 16 mile trip again. When we go, we do day trips, no camping...yet.

I could take care of all those bananas for you I LOVE the things! Wish I could grow them here. The herb garden is pretty too I like the table and chair planters, that's a cute idea!!

 

[txcanoegirl]

Thanks! Someone in my neighborhood put that table on the street for garbage pickup. It had a tile top that was busted out. I was going to salvage the legs or the hardware from it when I had the idea of using it in the garden. My family made fun of me picking up the table (I get those genes from my father), but I had the last laugh when it turned out so good. The lavender in front has grown enough from the view in the picture that the barrels don't show anymore. The chair was stowed away in my shed, just taking up space.

 

[Wannabefree]

That is awesome recycling talents you have there lady! I'd love to see some more recent pics of that setup

 

[txcanoegirl]

I don't have current photos that show how the plants have filled out. I was lucky to even find these photos...my digital filing system isn't very good, to say the least. Mostly herbs and edibles, but there are a few things not edible.

The boards on the beds are from lumber milled from a cypress tree Daddy cut down on this property several decades ago. The lumber was stored in my garage. The only things I bought for this project were the cedar 2 x 4's used as trim and on the short beds, and the wire trellises on the long bed. I built the base and drilled holes to hold the trellis up. Considering I was making it up as I went along, I was pleased and think it turned out exceptionally well. Everything else was scavenged from the garage or old projects or was being unused somewhere else. I cleaned up and painted this side of the garage before I started (leftover paint from another project, too!). The "mailbox" is on an old fence post. I store hand tools in the mailbox.

 

[Wannabefree]

Very cool I love Cypress lumber! My guess is those beds will last at least another several decades as long as you don't try to seal the wood in any way. I like the mailbox idea too, and storing hand tools there is a great idea as well. It's all very nicely done. I have issues staying organized outdoors. DH is constantly piling things somewhere in the open where they don't belong and leaving them for months. Dogs drag thing up(other folks dogs) and strew them all over creation. I am constantly working on it, but the work never ends. Our yard is never going to be pretty. I'll just live vicariously through everyone else

 

[txcanoegirl]

Very cool . DH is constantly piling things somewhere in the open where they don't belong and leaving them for months.

They must be brothers. Mine leaves his tools leaning against the trees or in the garden. Drives me crazy, knowing that the dew or the rain will rust them, so I pick them up when I see them. My front porch ends up looking like a workshop. Oops...some of that is mine! I just have to keep reminding myself that this old place is a work in progress and if I keep putting one foot in front of the other and do a little each day, I'll get there. Eventually.

 

[Wannabefree]

We might be sisters in law It drives me nuts too! We have so much going on and so many projects it's a wonder we can get to the front door sometimes.

 

[txcanoegirl]

I think I've found my Tribe!