It looks like the effort to safeguard the fruits paid off. Hubby has managed to pluck one papaya a day from the tree, and it’s just a matter of time before they ripen and we can eat them. Yum.
After several months of waiting, the new papaya tree in the garden is fruiting in abundance again! Yay. There was a time when we had papaya fruit to eat daily. As time passed, the tree grew old and stopped fruiting – we had to chop it down. Hubby decided to plant a new papaya tree.
Months passed, and the new tree flourished well with the weather that we had been experiencing. But it has also attracted some unwanted critters to our place. No, it’s not the garden squirrels but the civet cat!
The civet cat has helped itself a few times to the exposed and unprotected fruits, as there had been evidence of half-eaten papaya on the tree or fruit droppings on the ground. We must protect our fruits!
Yesterday, we put our plans into action by wrapping the fruits on the tree with the new PVC netting mesh. I think I did a good job. But we will only know in the next few days to see if the fruits are well protected.
We have two days left of 2023 before we bid the year goodbye. It has been another eventful year for me. As we count down to the New Year, I reflect upon the past 12 months, and here are some highlights of the good times and not-so-good moments.
The biggest highlight would be the two weddings in the family! My only sibling’s twins got hitched within three months of each other. It was a very happy occasion for the family.
Before the weddings, I started 2023 with a bang, getting myself hospitalized for kidney stones. I thought I pulled a back muscle from gardening, but it was more than that. I can laugh about it now!
After that scare, my diet changed to one that is low-oxalate. It took a while to adjust, but I have gotten used to it now. It is always best to stay healthy than to have a recurrence.
The year also saw me having a constant battle with putting. I suffered putting yips every so often with the many rounds of golf I played this year. The musical chair with my Peanut Putter, Scotty Cameron Squareback, and TaylorMade Spider Mini putter choices was a regular practice. Towards the end of the year, I had to retire my Peanut Putter because the grip was disintegrating. Boo hoo hoo. For now, the Mini is in the bag.
There were no family holidays this year as both girls are working, but I’m okay with this. Instead, hubby and I made several golfing trips with friends, locally and abroad. As a result of the constant golfing, my craft work suffered. I slowed down building miniatures, and the latest DIY project, number #32, is incomplete and collecting dust at my workstation. Sigh. Perhaps I can revive it at the beginning of the new year. We shall see.
2023 was not all fun and happy or frustrating. There have been scary moments that I wish not to be repeated. We experienced two spine-chilling episodes with friends after golf, but quick thinking and action saved them. However, no amount of action could save the loss of others due to other issues. Unexpected and untimely, this is the cycle of life, and we have to accept it. I avoid elaborating much on these occasions because I feel it’s best to remember these people in happier times than upon their deaths. Peace be upon their souls.
What will the new year bring for me? It would be materialistic to wish for this and that. I will be practical and say better health more than anything else. With each year passing, the body cannot take the strain regardless of what I do. This dinosaur is getting old!
Well, 2023 has been happy and sad all rolled into one, to sum it up in one sentence. Goodbye 2023, thanks for the memories, and a toast to the year, now stored away as I await the New Year with an open mind.
After waiting for what seems like forever, the new papaya tree has finally matured and is fruiting! Yay. I miss eating home-grown papayas, and papayas bought from the stores can’t beat the taste of the home-grown fruits.
Before this new tree, the old tree gave us a lot of fruits to enjoy. It was a bumper harvest period until we had to give away to family and friends. But once that phrase was over, we were papaya-less for some time.
The wait period is over now that the new tree has stabilized and fruiting. Unfortunately, the garden squirrels got to the first fruit ahead of us. Hrmph. Looks like we have to start protecting our papayas from the uninvited guests. Otherwise, we will not have the opportunity to enjoy the new fruits.
A week ago, the latest pineapple was almost ready for harvesting. It needed a few more days to go, but hubby was worried that the garden squirrels would get to it. So he quickly harvested the fruit. However, we had to let it sit in the kitchen to fully ripen before eating it.
The trick to ensure the fruit ripens well is to hang it upside down and let gravity do the job to aid the process. So far, it is going very well. As each day passed, I could smell the fragrance of the pineapple whenever I walked past the cabinet where we hung the pineapple. Mmm, so wonderful!
See the string?
In a day or two, we should be able to savor the aromatic pineapple harvested from our garden. Lovely.
Our neighbor has two dogs – a friendly Golden Retriever and an aggressive German Shepherd. We missed interacting and petting the friendly one when the aggressive one joined their family. There is no more opportunity to stretch the hands safely for a quick scratch or tickle.
The German Shepherd is an annoying one. Sure, he’s a guard dog, but we are neighbors, not intruders. Whenever we were in the garden, he would bark incessantly at us. It borders on annoyance and fear at the same time. He has snarled and shown his teeth at me several times. Because of its aggressive nature, I have stopped doing my woodwork outside on the garden terrace.
Lately, he is at it again, barking his head off unnecessarily, a test of our patience for such an unpeaceful situation. One morning, the annoying dog was barking at hubby so aggressively when hubby was watering the plants. It was too much!
Hubby went over to complain to the owner about the dog’s unbecoming behavior. The owner defended his dog, saying it meant no harm, and was merely barking at the rabbit (the pet from the neighbor flanking their house) whenever the rabbit was out.
Wait a minute! It was barking at hubby! Me (at times)! Us (all the time)! Not the rabbit!!! Do we look like rabbits? Hrmph.
The Starbucks brown bags are not the perfect solution to protect our figs after all! The squirrels are getting smarter and have managed to beat us to the game. Darn them!
So we have up our defenses against them by using plastic fruit, vege, and egg containers instead of brown bags. These containers are much more effective in keeping the raiders out. We can also see the figs to monitor their growth.
A more effective protection for our figs
Previously, with the brown bags, it took more effort to monitor as we had to open each one to inspect. With the clear plastic now, there is no need for this step. So far, it’s going well with the figs thriving for us to harvest.
It is a constant learning process to be good fig defenders against those sneaky garden squirrels.
We found the perfect solution to protect our figs from being raided on the trees in the garden. Who would have known that used Starbucks brown bags work better than the much-touted netting bags and reflecting CDs?
After the last raid, we had to do something. I found some Starbucks takeaway bags tucked between the storage containers on the kitchen counter and decided to use them. I cut one bag into three pieces and wrapped the ripening fruits individually. And I added staples to secure the bag firmly on the plants.
This little extra effort has proven to be fruitful, literally. Yesterday afternoon, hubby harvested a large fig thus far compared to all previous harvests. Measuring four centimeters across, it was the sweetest and juiciest home-grown fig! Delicious.
Previous harvests were puny because hubby plucked them before the squirrels could eat them. And this prevented the fruits from growing to their maximum. So now we know that brown paper bags can protect and, at the same time, allow the fig to grow even more – we will have to get more paper bags.
Juiciest fig from the garden!
However, we are using a Lunar New Year red packet because we ran out of brown bags. Perhaps this can work too? As long as we cover the ripening figs in sight and smell, the garden squirrels have no chance to raid.
Fig Defenders are now one up against the Fig Raiders. Yay.
The battle with the fig raiders has become a daily affair because the plants are fruiting. So far, I think the score is even. Hubby harvested some ripened figs, and the garden squirrel ate some from the plant. Hrmph.
We have resorted to a new method, wrapping the fruit with takeaway brown paper bags. Stapled for added strength, we hope this will protect the fruit. But alas, the rain came down yesterday evening, and the bag got wet and weakened. Oh no!
The netting bags have not been much good in protecting the figs, hence the raids now and then. Maybe I add brown bags to the netting bags for reinforcement? Hmm, whatever it takes to prevent the fig raiders, we will do it.
The darn garden squirrels are at it again, beating us to the fruits! Aaargh. Last week, when we were away, several figs were ripening on one fig plant. But we couldn’t get to harvest them on time upon our return.
The four-legged furries were faster than us and helped themselves to not one or two but four figs on the plant. Four figs! They must be hungry or very daring. Unfortunately, hubby did not cover the fruits with netting bags, so the fruits were exposed.
Evidence of the raid. Hrmph
But even the netting bags cannot deter these darn fig raiders, for we have seen fig fruits disappear inside a bag, still intact in its place! We have even tied old CDs as light reflectors to scare the raiders, but this method is not working too. Sigh.
We need new methods to prevent the fig-raiding squirrels from eating the fresh figs off the plants. Any ideas?
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