Chayote Challenge

The Chayote is a vegetable I have only recently been introduced to.

As you can see above, it is a green, almost pear shaped vegetable, with a lumpy surface.

I was able to see one growing, using a clothes line as a trellis, and was amazed at how dense the canopy had become. The vine (which young leaves can also be eaten in stir fry) was causing the clothes line to sag under the considerable weight - this got me thinking.

Not only was this vegetable wonderful to eat both raw and cooked, I could also use its vast growing abilities to help me with a problem I have on the farm.

Enter the blackberry bush!

Now these little prickly guys are not all bad. They provide me with berries and also a safe habitat for some wildlife, although they do grow out of control and smother the native vegetation. I don't want to eradicate them - just reduce their numbers and spread.

So here comes the experiment. What would happen if I planted chayote's in amongst the blackberry bushes? Would they grow, latch onto the prickly cane of the blackberry and smother it? Would it only cover part of it? Perhaps it would do nothing at all? There is only one way to find out.

I got a nice big bucket of chayote's and started to plant them into the ground. Apparently, they are quite easy to grow and are not too demanding.

Wading into the depths of the prickly bush, I dug a hole and dropped the chayote in. They only need a little soil to cover up.

Now its fingers crossed the experiment has positive results. At worst, nothing will grow, although I think I can at least expect some tasty vegetables for the summer. Another thought that occurred to me is to fence off the blackberries and include pigs into the control technique ... With the added incentive off chayote's, this could also be a way to remove them without resorting to chemicals to poison them.

One thing is for sure, experiments like this make farming interesting. I will keep you posted!