Pulsegleaner's Garden 2019; The Uphill Battle

[Pulsegleaner]

Well the good news is that the watermelon is now the size of a golf ball, and has rounded out (it's a round type of melon)
The bad news is that I think that may be as big as it is GOING to get. It's already getting it's streaks*, and I think watermelons don't do that until they hit full size and get down to ripening. So more of a bite of melon rather than a serving (I just hope there are enough seeds in there to get another go around; I only have one more in reserve.

Peppers are coloring up. First one should be fully orange** by just before Labor Day, just in time for the family get together.

Beginning to think the other tomato in the two tomato pot is also not a Green Zebra (it's getting pretty large, and again, I see no stripes)

*Assuming that is not intermediate. I seem to recall the melon being held up in the photo when I bought the seed was solid dark green, not striped.

** I got it wrong on the pepper thread; they are orange, not red.

 

[digitS']

Pulsegleaner, your experience with that melon may not be as frustrating as mine was with Blacktail Mountain watermelon.

Aug 4, 2014

It might just amount to sending a drone with a camera a few hundred feet, straight up from where I was trying to grow Blacktail Mountain, to see that mountain for which it was named! Wow. There must have been some good melon growing years when the guy was developing that variety.

I had more luck with Sugar Baby but it was too hit-&-miss to bother growing them. Besides, they were always terribly seedy out of my garden.

Steve

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Well, to be honest I am just glad to have something. This is only the second time I've managed to get melons EVER. And the last time didn't work that much better. I got two melons, one basketball sized and one bowling ball (which would work out to about the same level of dwarfing as I am seeing here, given the varieties I was growing (C.S. White Flesh and White Wonder, if I recall). I think I lost a third to ants.

But the actual tasting was a massive disappointment. The fruit put the "water" in watermelon. I had to juice them in the end to taste ANYTHING like melon flavor. I have since learned that white fleshed watermelons tend to have low brixes.

Another melon I'd love to try (If I ever find it) is called Limbang Midget, another minimelon (from Borneo this time). Alas it sold out of the seed zoo before I ever found the site. But at an average of 400g per fruit, it would probably be another single serve melon.

 

[Trish Stretton]

I am buying a midget watermelon this year called golden midget, due to similar problems. It supposed to be a short season type. I dont know if there is such a thing where you are but it may be worth looking into.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

There is, but Golden Midget, while small, is still around 3 pounds per fruit. That's more than 3x the size of Limbang, and definitely more than a single serving.

 

[digitS']

I ran into taste problems, DW's not mine.

We bought several yellow watermelons at the market. She was unimpressed.

Honestly, I think it's the color more than flavor but haven't been willing to tie up garden space on the chance that they would do better if she wouldn't eat them anyway.

Steve

 

[Pulsegleaner]

I REALLY wish there were a greater diversity of orange fleshed watermelons (to my knowledge there are like five or six named varieties*) since I think those have the best flavor of all

*Lets see, there's Viginia Tendersweet, Orangeglo, Sweet Siberian (sort of) Desert Queen and......actually I don't know of any others by name.

 

[digitS']

I looked for those.

They are 85 - 90 day varieties. Yellow Doll is 68.

Sugar Baby is a 76 day and were only able to reach the ripe stage about half the time. Both my neighbor and I grew them for about 4 years. Of course, they had more than 76 days in the garden but good watermelon-days, not many.

Maybe, I'd better be happy with Cucumis melo ...

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

if you start them in pots inside beforehand that doesn't help?

 

[digitS']

They are, @flowerbug .

You know, the vines don't like to be restrained and transplanted too late in their growth. Then there is the shock of transplanting.

I figure that our 3 or 4 week old vine seedling gets about a 2 week head start. About all ...

Steve