If you have ever bitten into a sweet and juicy slice of papaya and thought, “I wish I could grow this at home,” you are in luck, as monsoon season is the perfect time to start. With the right conditions, papaya plants grow quickly and can begin bearing fruit within six to 12 months. You can grow it in your backyard garden, a terrace, or even a spacious balcony.

With its sweet flavour, buttery texture, and abundant health benefits, papaya is a fruit well worth adding to your garden. It is rich in vitamin C, fibre, and digestive enzymes like papain, making it excellent for digestion and immunity.

The rainy season offers ideal weather for starting papaya from seed; the warmth, humidity, and regular watering make for a natural greenhouse effect. If you are ready to embrace monsoon gardening, follow this comprehensive step-by-step guide to grow your papaya at home:

1. Select the right papaya variety

There are several types of papaya, but for home gardeners, it is best to go for a hybrid or dwarf variety that is compact, fast-growing, and suitable for small spaces. Common choices include ‘Red Lady’, a hybrid variety that is self-pollinating and known for early fruiting, ‘Pusa Delicious’, a hardy, Indian-developed cultivar, and ‘Solo’, a smaller-fruited type favoured for its uniformity and sweetness.

If you are collecting seeds from a ripe papaya, make sure the fruit is organic and untreated, as seeds from chemically-treated........

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