Letters to the Editor- December 9, 2015
SONY DSC
Reader offers tips on growing bananas
I read your “Bananas in Darlington.” I have been growing tropical plants for 30 years, it’s my hobby. My wife, Penny, says I treat them like there are my babies.
You can get a banana tree to produce bananas about every 2 to 4 years if you treat them right. The trick is dig them up in October, cut all the leaves off, put 2 to 3 in a 20’ x 20’ plastic pot, remove the excess soil and fill the pot with “Miracle Grow Potting Soil.” Put the pot in your green house and keep the temp 70 degrees. Water heavy every 2 weeks. By April, the banana trees will be putting out new leaves and will be ready to replant in your yard. After digging your hole, put the tree in and replace the soil with fresh “Miracle Grow Potting Soil,” not dirt. By doing this, your banana tree is always getting fresh nutrients. Always plant bananas in direct sunlight, water heavy twice a week throughout the summer. Once it produces bananas, cut the stalk to the ground, as it will no longer grow. New bananas corms will grow from the base.
My favorite plants are Plumeria, very exotic in their appearance and their fragrance, but that is another story.
Enclosed is a picture of my daughter, Cary, holding the last of our bananas.
I hope this helps others in growing bananas.
Dr. Steve Hobbs
Darlington, S.C.
[Editor’s note: Jana “Banana” is going to try this! Thank you so much, Dr. Hobbs!]
Citizen expresses concern on progress of city
Now that the voting for council seats is “thankfully” over, I know I’m not the only resident and business owner in town that is hoping that the “CHANGE and PROGRESS” promised by each and every person voted in will be made.
There are many, MANY people watching and keeping record and I for one will not sit back and let month after month go by with lackluster statements of “We are working on it” being given but no record of such “progress” being shown. As I mentioned at the final Council meeting of the year, six months ago I brought forward a complaint about the utter lack of business license streaming by a Council running a town that is begging for new businesses to come in. It was FINALLY presented by Councilman Cooper and he thanked the dedicated members who he had worked with. This is all well and good but WHY did it take six months? All the information was at hand, and all it should take is each department head to forward their information to him and then someone to put it together. It was all RIGHT THERE and yet it took six months to put together? Do the heads of each department just not talk to each other? Are we not a unified City? This is just madness and why people don’t want to bring business to this town. Molasses doesn’t have anything compared to the speed with which things “don’t” happen in this town.
‘Shop Small Business’ Saturday was this past weekend and yet if a local business owner isn’t on Facebook you wouldn’t know about it. The Council did absolutely NOTHING to promote it. Sure the Darlington Downtown Revitalization Association did their bit having a breakfast the morning OF but if you don’t follow them on Facebook you wouldn’t know about it. The local news Channel was in town but what good is THAT the day OF? This should have been HEAVILY promoted by the council several weeks before but no, nothing. Facebook isn’t the be all and end all of businesses and Darlington Council can’t and absolutely SHOULDN’T rely on that to get word out alone.
Now, I’m going to take a deep breath and do something most people think is unheard of by me. I’m going to try and be positive. This CAN be a great town and I know several residents are working their butts off to make it so. With that in mind, I am going to attend as many events and meetings and try to do my bit. Hopefully others will follow suit. To the NEWLY voted members of Council, be aware that all you do from here on out is going to be recorded, monitored and we WILL hold you accountable for things that are being done way too slowly, things which AREN’T being done but will also congratulate you on accomplishments you DO make.
We are watching. Make us proud. It’s not too much to ask.
Andrea Knapp
Darlington, S.C.
