A Mango Tree in Maine

Last weekend I was emptying the compost and, as is often the case, there were lots of things growing in the compost pile. There were many weeds sprouting and also a few potatoes. But then I noticed something unusual. Turns out that a mango seed had sprouted and had produced a shoot that was around a foot tall. I thought this was really cool. There have been many mango pits in the compost before, but none have ever sprouted.

So I dug up the mango plant and put it in a pot with a bunch of potting soil. It seems to have survived its transplanting just fine. Below is a picture of my little mango tree that I took this morning. Something ate part of one of its leaves, but other than that it looks very happy. Soon, however, I'll need to take the mango tree inside; tomorrow night it's supposed to get into the low 30's. I'll try to keep the mango tree alive indoors through the winter. I'm not great at keeping plants alive, so I'm not optimistic. But I figure it's worth a try.

 

In other news, we're done with our first official week of fall term. I think both of my classes are off to a good start, although it's far too early to tell. The week was surprisingly hectic, but basically positive. When I left my office on Friday my email queue was at 99, about the same as it was at the start of the week. Friday alone I dealt with around 125 incoming messages and sent almost 50 emails. Today was a day of exercise, doing stuff around the house, having a nice dinner with friends, and doing some reading. Tomorrow will need to be a more serious day of work.