The banana plant goes to bed for the winter

Each winter the banana plant growing in the mill garden must be protected against the winter frosts. The base of the plant is surrounded by wire mesh that is filled with straw as insulation and the leaves trimmed to leave just the leaf stalks, the removed leaf material being added onto the top of the straw.

Plastic bubble-wrap is wrapped around the remaining stems before each wrapped stem is covered by black polythene bags to prevent rain access. Additional straw and bubble-wrap is added around the covered stems as additional protection. We then hope the protected plant will survive the winter.