If you live in the tropics and you have some yard space it is almost a given that you already have some bananas around. One of the principles of permaculture is to retain water on your land where you need it for crops, and a banana circle is a great way to store water at the roots of your plants and get your bananas under control.
I put together a training last week that I did on Saturday on Urban Garden Bed preparation and the basics of Permacultrue. During this process I collected a lot of pictures that I had taken of a garden I made in 2019 in Osu, Ghana.
First I will source a few cartoon images from sources online to show the basics of a banana circle.
Source (https://treeyopermacultureedu.com/chapter-10-the-humid-tropics/banana-circle/)
This is a cross section of the banana circle it shows about a .75m deep crater that is about 1m across and a berm around it. The whole is filled with organic matter and the berm is planted with plants in different zones along it.
Source (https://treeyopermacultureedu.com/chapter-10-the-humid-tropics/banana-circle/)
The organic mater in the middle of the circle acts as a sponge keeping things moist. Over time this organic matter will also break down providing nutrients to the plants.
You plant pants on the inside of the berm that deal well with lots of water, spring onions, water crest, lemon grass, and even grasses to hold the berm in place like vitiver. On the top you plant about 4 to 6 banana trees, papaya or palm trees. Sweet patato or some other good ground cover is planted and then along the outside to break the harder soil and more drought resistant cassava or yam is planted.
After mapping out where you want your banana circle to be the first step is to dig. Remember that the crater is going to be about 1 meter in diameter and about .75 meter deep.
Nearing the completion of the digging. Pile the earth removed from the hole around the hole evenly making a berm or a lip to the crater all the way around.
We started this banana circle where the house used to burn everything and all the yard waste so there was a lot of ash around. We put that aside when we first started digging. We now put it i the bottom of our newly completed hole. Some people put down cardboard to help keep water in but the soil was very much comprised of clay so this was not necessary. We put the ash in the hole then we all took turns peeing on it. Pee and ash help to create Humus soil.
Next we filled the hole with the heaviest organic matter. We had cut down a royal palm earlier in the day we cut this up and put it in as chunks and as much other heavy yard waste that we could find. You can use stumps or wood rounds or anything dense and organic.
We made a border from stones around the place.
We continued to pile the center high and covered the soil to plant for another day.
I planted this circle with a number of plants. You can see arugula or rocket starting to poke up here.
I also planted the following;
Black eyed peas
tumeric
ginger
banana
plantain
sweet patato
tomatoes
After planting the circle is mulched well with sawdust that I got for free at the timber market.
The circle is now well mulched and piled high.
Time to let things grow.
Then it is always important to harvest and enjoy the fruits of your labor. When the Bananas ripen you fall the tree and throw it inside the center of the circle. You are always feeding the circle it actually eats down the center pretty fast. Especially if you channel gray water into it or an outdoor shower.
