Hi All!
So my birthday was on the 14th and I got myself a 7 gal Lemon Meringue Mango Tree! I also drove down to Merritt Island and picked up a bunch of huge Keitt mangos. I picked up 3 Osteen mangos which were fine, but not my favorite. They had quite an enjoyable spicy flavor but had a slightly stringy flesh and not as sweet as some more popular varieties. It did have passionfruit tones too which were pretty delicious. The Keitts are delicious but when I picked up the PPK they also gave me a Kent mango they picked off the tree that was just perfectly ripe. It was the best mango I've had so far (though I haven't had many). I'm attaching a picture of the tree, which I just planted in a 40 gallon pot as a temporary home for the year for some complicated reasons.
Anyways, I also wanted to see what people thought because I have an idea for guerilla gardening in my very neighborhood. There's a pretty secluded grassy area that's part of the neighborhood but is not inhabited by anyone, backed up to some bushy shrubby oak tree woods with a lake behind it. It's hard to picture but basically, nobody really goes there except the landscapers who mow the grass to a certain spot and the people that like to exercise nearby. Past that, everything grows wild. Well one day I was walking there, and I noticed that somebody had planted a bunch of pineapples there, and I saw a few fruiting which means they'd been there untouched for quite a while, and in another spot I saw a bunch of passionfruit vines growing like crazy. So I got to thinking, if I could possibly sneak down there when nobody's looking and plant something like a young Valencia Pride which grows rapidly and fruits heavily, could it become a somewhat secret mango tree? Eventually it'll get big but I just don't want people to bother it while it's starting off. It would have to be a low maintenance tree although I would like to shape it to have low branches at first, and size wouldn't matter since it's quite a huge area. I don't know my neighbors well but I know for a fact people would love a public mango tree. A lot of them have mangos planted in their yard but I can imagine having a large tree like that for those who venture down there to pick, including myself especially since several houses have very limited backyards. Our HOA is not very strict, so I don't imagine anyone having an issue with it. Most people don't notice anything like that anyways. What would you suggest? I am thinking of trying out several fruits down there like Wax Jambu and Red Mombin which I am also growing, I just want to make sure they're not invasive fruits. Please let me know what you think!
Have a good one!
- Gabe