This plant is amazing. It grows vertically like most other plants. When a strong wind knocks it all the way down to the ground, it continues to grow and produce fruits.
It is very easy to grow. I simply broadcast the seeds, which find their sweet spots to germinate and grow rapidly and bear fruits ready to be harvested in less than a year. Best of all, it can produce fruits continuously year round.
It has a small canopy so more plants can be grown in a limited garden space. We have at least 30 plants in our small yard producing thousands of pounds of fruits every year for our family.
The ripe fruit can be eaten raw and is very sweet. The unripe fruit can be cooked made into a salad. We eat this fruit every single day of the year as fruit, squash, or salad.
Its name is papaya, an excellent addition to a homestead or edible garden in tropical areas.
Even though it grows in a warmer climate, it can also be grown in a greenhouse in a colder climate. It tends to grow tall. But you can either get a dwarf variety or cut the top off and let it branch out to control the height.
Below are photos I took today to show you how resilient they are.
It is supposed to grow tall like these two. The left one was bent by a storm to a 15-degree angle off the straight line up.
This one was blown to a 45-degree angle.
This is a single plant. It was knocked down by a storm to be about 30-degrees off the ground. It continued to grow and bear fruits. Later it was broken in half by the weight of its fruits, yet it branched out, and continued to double and then triple its production.
Zoom out a little to see the whole plant
This one was knocked down by a storm just recently, uprooted, and laid down on the path, yet it continued to grow.
Same plant. I cut the top off because it was too close to a banana plant. The big flower on the top of the photo is a banana blossom. Now, look at all the new healthy growth from an uprooted plant!
More papaya plants
This one is less than one year old and already has fruits.
Another one less than a year old
This one could be seen when I looked out the window while writing this post.
We're only truly secure when we can look out our kitchen window and see our food growing and our friends working nearby. ~Bill Mollison
Photos below show different ways of how we eat it.
Ripe Fruit
Unripe Cooked Curry Green Papaya
Unripe Raw Green Papaya Salad
Getting hungry as I look at these photos. I will just post this blog and go eat some papaya. ;-) Until next time ...
