The papaya trees from the nursery are ready! Recently, hubby planted two of the little ones at two prime spots in the garden.
It is a good beginning for us to have papaya fruits again. But we need to be patient, for it will be a long road for them to grow and bear fruit.
Last week, hubby finally removed the stump of our last papaya tree. It has been sitting on precious land while we are undecisive about what to plant there. Perhaps we can transfer the little papayas from the nursery, or the fig plants can have a permanent spot instead of being in a pot.
Whatever we plant in that place, we must guard the fruits of our labor when the plant starts fruiting. Or else, those darn critters in the garden will get to it first before us.
Our fig plants are growing well. Yesterday, hubby saw one fruit ripening on the tree, and he thought it would be ready for us to eat the next day. But guess what? Those darn garden critters got to it before us! Argh.
Remember when we had that pineapple that ripened, and the garden squirrel helped itself to it, standing precariously in between the blades of the pineapple plant? Double ugh.
We have to be more vigilant when it comes to our precious fruits in the garden. If we see one ripened, we’d better wrap it, protect it or do whatever to prevent those darn critters from eating them before us.
It is official. We will not have papayas from the garden anymore. Last week, hubby said we had to cut down the tree as the tree is old, sick, and no longer fruiting.
The task at hand was quite a challenge. Even the tall ladder did not help. In the end, hubby sawed two sections of the trunk so that it would break at two points instead of one. Also, with two breaking points, the tree fell at a shorter distance, thus less damage to the garden space. The tree was pulled with a rope and fell safely towards the open area.
So now, we are papaya-less. At some point, we have to remove the remaining three-foot-tall trunk and find something else to plant in that spot. Otherwise, it is a waste of precious space. By the way, the baby papaya trees are not ready yet to take over. Boo hoo hoo!
It looks like I am wrong about the Chili Reaper that comes to our garden. Two days ago, the Yellow-vented Bulbul came a-calling, and it wasn’t the chili plant that it went to but the papaya fruit that we left out for the squirrels!
The Bulbul also likes papaya besides chili, it seems. We never knew. I guess we have to rethink its given name now. It’s wrong to call it the Chili Reaper if it eats papaya fruits besides chili, right?
We used to have three papaya trees in our garden, but not anymore. Only one tree is still fruiting, as the other two have passed their prime. The older of the two was chopped down in its height but never grew again. Its base wilted with time, and we left it unattended until we figured out what to do with its precious space in the garden.
The other tree had problems as far as the fruits were concerned. Hubby chopped it down to about two feet to allow it to grow again. Hopefully, the tree will recover and give us healthy fruits again.
The lone tree so far is still fruiting well, and we have a couple of challenges with it. The first is its height – it has grown so tall that plucking the fruits from the top of the nine-foot-tall ladder is quite a task. The other challenge is keeping the garden squirrels away from eating the fruits on the tree!
Papaya fruits have become such an integral part of our diet these days. So much so, with the two trees gone, hubby decided to cultivate more papaya trees. Call it our papaya nursery, if you may.
He recycled milk containers to house the little trees. And so far, the four trees are doing okay. When they are ready, to the garden they will go! Or he will give a few away. Any takers?
Recently the pandemic SOP restrictions for travels and visits have been lifted. So we visited my aunt and cousin – it was a fruitful visit, literally. We came home with papayas and bananas. So wonderful! It wasn’t a case of getting lemons and making lemonade, but bananas and making a bunch of yummies!
The papayas tasted very different from those from our garden, but nice nevertheless. We couldn’t figure out what species was the bananas, so we had to wait for them to ripen. And when they did, we still couldn’t pinpoint the species. Lol! Oh well.
We discovered the banana tastes best when combined with something. Eating it on its own does not taste as good. So what do you do or make when there are so many bananas?
First, there was the banana smoothie, which was so good and filling. I used lactose intolerant milk so that I could drink the smoothie too. Then there’s the banana bread baked by hubby. Delicious! After these two efforts, there were still a lot of bananas left, so I made a banana sorbet, which tasted simply heavenly.
It’s such a simple recipe that I found online using just three ingredients. Bananas, which we had plenty of, and lime and honey! Blend them several times to be as smooth as possible, then freeze. Best eaten during hot days. So now you know, when life gives you bananas, make bread, smoothies, and sorbet!
The wire mesh protection on the papaya tree is not good enough to deter intruders from eating the papaya fruits. Even with our tall ladder, I cannot reach the top to cover all the fruits on the tree because the tree is too tall.
Last week, hubby discovered one slightly eaten fruit. The squirrel is getting clever as it managed to get inside the mesh to bite the papaya! The mesh protects only the outer fruits, and since there are still gaps to some exposed fruits and access from the top, it’s only a matter of deft agility to get inside for a feast.
Oh well, at this point, we cannot do much. If the fruits ripen, we harvest them. If we don’t get to them first before the squirrel or otherwise, we should share and shouldn’t be too upset about it.
It looks like our other papaya tree is finally fruiting! Yay. Just when we thought we would not have any papaya to eat after chopping the big tree down to a manageable height, the newer six-foot-tall tree has come to our answer.
The young papaya tree failed to pollinate several times. Previously, there were lots of flowers, but nothing more. This time, I guess the insects and bees have finally cooperated, and there are fruits now. Let’s hope the fruits will grow. We will have to monitor to ensure that the squirrels don’t get to them.
Our papaya tree has been very fruitful. We have had an abundance of fruits and have given away much of the yield. But good things must come to an end.
Two weeks ago, the largest fruit fell from the tree before hubby could pluck it. Thankfully, it did not cause any damages to the potted plants on the ground, nor did the fruit explode upon impact.
We both agreed that after harvesting the last few fruits, the tree needs to be shorter. Otherwise, it will be hard harvesting future fruits standing on the top-most step of the nine-foot ladder. Currently, the tree is about 20 feet tall!
So we spent a fruitful (pun intended) morning trimming the tree down to a more manageable height. It will be a while before we can have some papayas from the garden.
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