Red Lady Papaya
Carica papaya

days to maturity: 10 months
plant spacing: 1 plant every 8 feet
sunlight requirements: 8-14 hours
look out for: papaya fruit fly, local critters like raccoons 
harvest notes: harvest before completely ripe
seasons: spring, summer, fall and winter
perennial

Did you know that papaya “trees” are actually giant herbs? Maybe thats one of the reasons why these delicious fruits are so easy to grow. The papaya is believed to have originated in southern Mexico and eastern Central America. From there the Spanish introduced it to Asia and the Philippines, and by the 19th century it was being grown in pretty much all tropical regions throughout the world. While there are many different cultivars the Red Lady is grown and prized for its delicious fruit which is higher in sugar than some other varieties and has a unique floral taste. We hear from many of our customers that they don’t like papayas, but that just means they haven’t had a good one yet, or they are eating them under-ripe. A papaya should be soft enough to yield to a firm press, smell heavily and be bright orange with even some bad spots on the outside before its eaten.

Besides the fruit you can also use every other part of the papaya plant. The unripe fruit can be used for cooking, and the leaves contain Papain, an enzyme used to break down and tenderize meat. The seeds can be dried and added to a pepper grinder, as they have anti microbial and anti parasitic properties when consumed. Also, because of the presence of Papain, papaya fruit makes a great ingredient for skin rejuvenating face masks. 

When planting papaya in the garden keep in mind that only female plants produce fruit. When buying a seed grown plant theres no telling the gender until it flowers. To make sure you have a female, consider buying a “tissue cell culture” plant.