Grocery stores will only sell one – maybe two – kinds of bananas, but there's only one place in Wareham that will have seven different kinds, and it's in someone's backyard.

Ice cream, red, chiquita, cavendish, apple, Puerto Rican plantain and thousand finger banana plants are growing in David Bridge's self-built greenhouse.

A resident for 17 years, Bridge lives in Swifts Beach along with his wife and two children where his household has grown in those years.

“This fig tree right here is actually how I started,” said Bridge, pointing to the 10-foot tall tree in the corner of his greenhouse. “I had never seen one before and I was very interested in it. Once I ate the fresh fig off of here, I wanted to get one.”

His wife and kids bought him the plant for Father's Day. He would bring the tree into the garage during winter and bring it back out in summer.

In the fall of 2014, Bridge and his daughter, Cassidy, built a greenhouse right off of the garage at their home. When finished, the greenhouse's first tenant was the fig tree, which was planted in the soil in one corner.

In addition to cucumbers, grapefruits, squash, basil, and the tropical trees in the greenhouse is a batch of blue Nile tilapia, which Bridge feeds everyday.

With about 100 fish in the tank, the tilapia are part of the aquaponic system: waste from the fish creates nutrient-rich water for the plants next to the fish tank; the clean filtered water goes back down into a tank with a couple of turtles and fish; that water gets pumped back up to the fish tank.

All Bridge has to do is feed the fish and occasionally add some freshwater.

“The system does everything all on its own automatically, and it grows,” said Bridge.

As for bug control, Bridge also has a solution and her name is Thorton. She's an Australian bearded dragon.

Outside of the greenhouse, Bridge grows pomegranates, Arabica coffee, lemons and oranges. He enjoys plants that produce something that can be eaten.

In the morning, Bridge will grab some eggs from one of his six chickens, some basil and red peppers from the garden, and have that for breakfast.

“It does give you a sense of accomplishment. You are taking care of yourself and you're not impacting the rest of the world with waste,” he said. Bridge works from home as a private IP router and spends time pursuing a variety of interests, including gardening.

For now, its a waiting game to see the bananas grow. For some of the plants, it will take at least two years for the trees to produce fruit. That's the normal amount of time for a banana tree to grow successfully in the Northeast, Bridge said.

He said anyone could grow a banana tree, they just need to provide what he calls “alotta.”

“A lot of sun, a lot of water, a lot of fertilizer, and a lot of heat, and any banana will grow with those four.”