Last August, I excitedly potted up several papaya seedlings that had taken root in my compost pile. Less than a year later & those “trash trees” are ready to soon offer their versatile fruit🤲🏾

Papaya is at the top of my growing list of trees that fruit in under a year in the subtropics. It’s a bonus that its evergreen, palm tree-like appearance is aesthetically pleasing. Papaya is relatively low maintenance & consistently pumps out antioxidant rich fruit that can be consumed unripe as a vegetable (squash like) or ripe as a fruit. Some use the papaya leaf to make a nutritious tea. Even the seeds are edible & can serve as a black pepper substitute when dried.

This Summer- in addition to continually propagating my trusty Mexican papaya- I’m experimenting with a new papaya variety that I’m excited about potentially cultivating here. We’ll see how it does.