That 30-lb melon I was talking about last week? There it is, in all its glory. I still can't believe how beautifully large and sweet it was - apparently planting a ton of melons on the hill down to the pond and then ignoring them is a great way to grow watermelons! (We've learned now that it's NOT a good method for canary melons, all of which rotted before they ripened. Muskmelons and cantaloupes have done well, though! And honeydew has been okay.) Everyone is always happy to go for a trip down the hill with the wagon, looking for melons in the tall grass, and learning how to tell which ones are ripe (it's the brown tendril nearest the stem on the watermelon, fyi).
We've started on what has become somewhat of a family handicraft: embroidery! A friend of mine has put together a sweet embroidery bundle, complete with an online support add-on (on super-sale this week! Here's my affiliate link!), and we've gradually been picking our patterns, getting our threads ready, hooping the fabric, and tracing the patterns. I think there might be some re-tracing needed to really make these easy enough for us to follow (and I think the tracing might be the hardest part!!), but John Paul and Cecilia are very excited about the prospect of their finished products, and I think I'll probably end up joining in! Definitely give it a look - we're absolute beginners, but Theresa is explaining everything we need to know in the facebook group, which is absolutely worth the (low!) lifetime membership price.
I'll try to share our progress as we work through these patterns, because I think we might need accountability so this doesn't fall by the wayside!
That is a SERIOUS melon! We've had all sorts of weird diseases attack our plants this year. I'm grateful for what's survived, and also grateful that OUR survival doesn't depend on my ability to make the garden survive as it might have a century ago ;).
ReplyDeleteI'm having the WORST time with squash bugs. Ugh. Thankful every day for the good old grocery store!!
DeleteOhh to be able to grow melons, your so lucky!! Our climate is just too cool, we made a ghetto plastic greenhouse this year to give our tomatoes enough time/heat to ripen. I guess that is the trade off for only living 10 miles from the beautiful beaches of Oregon. Our apple trees are dropping their apples already and the deer and elk come at night to snack on the fallen fruit! so that's fun.
ReplyDeleteI've definitely been thinking about how fortunate we are to live in a melon-friendly zone! We tried a variety called "Minnesota midget" this year, softball-sized cantaloupes work a short season, prolific producers but not the most intense flavor. Those might be worth a try for you! And Blacktail Mountain watermelons have a short season, too - I bet if you started them under plastic tunnels you could make something happen!
DeleteI was just going to comment with the same thing! We tried to grow melons one year and failed miserably. Of course, we can't seem to grow anything else either so the problem is more likely us...
DeleteMelons are heavy feeders! We haven't had a ton of luck with them in the past, but the extra compost we added this year made a big difference, I think!
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