Growing My Own

I love eating paw-paw (papaya). I miss to nibble on un-ripened (manibalang) one dipped in salt and vinegar. I love eating paw-paw pickles (atsara) too.

I buy paw-paw here when I feel like eating but they're always ripe. So, I thought of growing my own. I saved the seeds.

I didn't really knew how to grow one but as far as I can remember, my grandfather would just throw the seeds in the garden and after a couple of months, pawpaw seedlings would be sprouting everywhere. That was in the Philippines.

Mcj taught me the process - dry the seeds, sow 'em on a tray, if they're big enough with a leaf or two transfer them to another bigger tray and if they've grown enough roots, plant them on the ground. Sounds too much hard work.

Anyway, I put the seeds that I saved in a newspaper thinking it is quicker to dry in it. After a couple of weeks, the seeds were dead, err.. very dry so I threw them on the weedy garden without hoping that they will sprout.

I saved some more seeds and this time, I followed what Mcj taught me. My paw-paw seeds had turnd into seedlings and were too happy until I transfered them on a tray for hardening and put under a sprinkler that doesn't comes on. The next thing I knew, the tray was gone and the dead pawpaw seedlings were in the rubbish bin.

I was not disappointed. But I also gave up the idea of growing my own.

Then one day, I saw one pawpaw plant in the garden. I might have threwn some seeds there.


I told Mcj about it and Mcj took me to another part of the garden and showed me pawpaw plants that are taller than what I found. There were more than five. They are the "dead" seeds that I threw before. I was happy.

Now, I just have to wait for them to bear fruit.

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Pawpaw is a fruit with many uses to the body. It is laxative. It has an enzyme that helps digest protein. Basically, aids the digestive system and it is also a form of cleanser. All natural. Though there are lots of detoxifying products in the market like colon cleanser, you can still go natural by eating pawpaw. Using pawpaw leaves for the skin is another story but still another use of the plant.