Flashing my Passport

[digitS']

The Goliath tomato weighs 1 1/4 pounds so you can see that the Passport Galia melon isn't very large. I am just so pleased that I can grow melons here .

Passport has been in my garden for about 6 or 7 years, now. I tried for many seasons to grow melons before I discovered this Israeli melon family - the Galia . Wikipedia says that it is a cantaloupe/honeydew cross and that's exactly what it looks like. The exterior has the appearance of the cantaloupe but the flesh is green. Passport is the only Galia variety that I've grown but it is a consistent producer. Why mess with success here at the border ?

A little Charentais melon has also grown well for me - Honey Girl. But, this melon has also failed in our cool nights, short-season part of the world. If I would have found the seeds, I suspect that it would have failed this spring when we had a record cool start to the season. Maybe not . . . The Charentais variety that I tried last year failed to ripen properly. The Santon Charentais that is in the garden may or may not ripen. (I think it will ripen . After a record cool start, it looks like we may have record HIGH temperatures to finish!)

Anyway, I wanted to flash my Passport ! I've been eating these melons for about a week now. They work for me!

Steve

 

[lesa]

Perfect! I am always pleased when I actually can grow a melon! I have a few sugar babies out there (if I can just find them, in the mess of tomatoes and squash!!) Enjoy your harvest!

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

Does it taste like a cross between cantalope and honey dew as well?

 

[digitS']

It tastes like a honeydew, SHF. I'd be in melon heaven if'n I could grow cantaloupe, crenshaw, canary, and, and, and . . . watermelon!

Sugar Babies have just barely worked for me, Lesa.

Some seasons, Sugar Babies just gave up . . . other years, I've gotten several pinkish melons that really weren't very good. After about 4 seasons running, I decided not to bother with them in 2011.

I didn't want to miss with Passport tho' and I'm still trying to find a replacement for Honey Girl. Burpee didn't put HG in their catalog this year, nor last. Then, I find that they have it online .

As I said tho', we have had 2 very cool starts to the growing seasons here so, I suspect, HG would have failed each year. Melon plants will actually die if May and June are miserable enuf! Just about all my warm-season plants are small this year. It is no surprise that the Passports have small fruit. If'n I'd known that they couldn't grow much early on . . . I guess I could have planted more of them closer together in the melon patch . At least, I can walk around amongst them this year.

Maybe 2012 will be a good melon-growing year! Good or not, this Galia melon hasn't failed to get me across the line!

Steve

 

[hoodat]

How do the vines act? Are they as space consuming as honeydews? I've tried the compact varieties (so called bush) but they never produce well for me. My garden is a suburban back yard so I have to be careful plantig space hogs. My tomatos already use up half my garden. Back in Oklahoma I had a half acre for a garden and could have had more if I needed it.

 

[Greenthumb18]

Steve,

Nice melon you have there!

I'm glad I can say for this season that I can finally grow melons too. That aroma of a ripe melon in the sun is unlike anything else in the garden. I managed to get a few cantaloupes which weren't bad for a first time harvest, I enjoyed them alright. No luck with the watermelons they got to the size of a baseball and quit growing.

Did you have your melon plants on a trellis, Steve?

I really would like to try Passport and Charentais melons next season!

 

[April Manier]

Thanks for the post. I am always looking for short season melons.

Flavor scale?

 

[digitS']

I pretty much grew up in southern Oregon. The Rogue River Valley is good melon-growing country! Mom liked melons . . . she didn't care much for gardening. One year, our entire garden was just cantaloups. I was happy !

I've never grown honeydew and don't really know how they compare. There's no question that my melon plants are stunted this year. . . . just lucky they didn't die . I doubt that the Passports have ever grown much beyond 6' and, no GT, they were just grown at ground level.

Flavor scale, April? Charentais melons are difficult to harvest, they are ripe for only a day or 2, then over-ripe :/. Before they are ripe they aren't sweet nor flavorful. Perfectly ripe - - - I would rate them a 10. They are just wonderful!

Passports don't rank nearly as high. They are nicely fragrant and for judging a ripe melon, the nose knows!



I don't think I could give them much higher than a 7 . . . (but, I can grow 'em!)

Steve
who picked 2 more Passports this morning and may yet harvest a Charentais . . .

 

[momofdrew]

I have never had luck with melon so gave up trying years ago...my hat off to all who are lucky enough to get a melon harvest

 

[thistlebloom]

That's a pretty melon Steve, and a very pretty tomato! I can't believe I'm still waiting on a ripe one (tomato ) that's not a cherry...

I planted Collective Farm Woman melons ( thank you Wifezi for the recommendation ), among others, and yesterday I picked the biggest one up to see if it was coloring on the bottom and it slipped off the vine! It was still a green shade but orange inside and ripe and cantaloupy tasting .
I was happy, as I didn't plan on being able to harvest any melons. Not going to be a record year for the CFW, but hey! I'll take whatever I can get.
I think if we get about another month of this wonderful summer that finally rolled in I might get to pick a Blacktail Mountain watermelon. That's the one I was most excited about.
The vines are loaded with blooms that I'm picking off in hopes of something making it to the table.
I think I'll try your Passport next year.

I know, I was just dreaming aloud about another month of summer :/