|
Post by castanea on Sept 28, 2011 21:21:30 GMT -5
All those watermelons look luscious! I have always wondered too how to tell when watermelons were ripe. Long ago, in an experimental garden, we would walk through the fields of watermelons, and the vines would be brownish, dying, and the melons kind of stuck up from the ground, above the shriveled foliage, and were very noticeable, and beautiful. They would take the stem near the end of the melon, and push it sideways with their thumb, and the stem would peel off of the melon so easily, and then they would crack open the melon, and taste it, and if it tasted good, they would pick up the two pieces, and I would have to carry one, and if the melon did not taste perfectly good and sweet, they would just leave it to rot in the field. So wasteful. Some of the melons had the stem already fallen off and were just sitting in the field. Anyway, to make a long story short, the ones that they dryfarm in the river bed, are pretty much all sweet, and it does seem reducing or stopping the water at some point, before they are fully ripe, allows them to ripen and sweeten so well? Anyone have any thoughts on this? Generally I agree with stopping or minimizing water at some point but you'll find that different varieties of watermelon will respond much differently to environmental factors.
|
|
|
Post by castanea on Sept 28, 2011 21:22:08 GMT -5
Here's the melon I opened today. It was likewise harvested 2.5 weeks ago and was sweet as anything. I guess I know which color watermelon I will be growing next summer. Gorgeous little melon.
|
|
|
Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Sept 28, 2011 22:35:54 GMT -5
I found a bonus melon today... I was going to leave it in the garden, but technically it did pass my selection criteria, which was to germinate, and mature a fruit in my cold-nighted short growing season. And I cut open the third melon. The taste was OK as far as a watermelon goes. Just what I'd expect... But after tasting those yellow watermelons my expectations for what a watermelon should taste like have risen substantially.
|
|
|
Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Oct 15, 2011 23:59:04 GMT -5
Interesting..... Yellow watermelons really have me excited now. I was just looking through some of the photos i took of some of the watermelons i harvested, so i can update my website and I started using google some more, and i think there are actually three different types of yellow-fleshed watermelons?! Three types are described. Canary Yellow (very bright and apparently a dominant gene), Pale yellow, and Salmon Yellow. I think i may have had all three types in my garden this year. I'm still a little confused about the genetics though. All i know at this point is that Canary Yellow is supposed to be dominant... which i think is awesome! Canary Yellow (i ate it before i thought about taking a picture... It was really good too!) Pale Yellow? Salmon Yellow? ... I also read that sometimes F1 hybrids between yellow and reds can sometimes separate out into swirls of BOTH colors in the flesh! That would be kind of cool to see.
|
|
|
Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Oct 16, 2011 16:13:10 GMT -5
Today I opened my final watermelon for the season: It's the variety that I have grown for years. Tastes just like expected.
|
|
|
Post by littleminnie on Oct 17, 2011 18:12:41 GMT -5
That looks like an awesome watermelon. I only grew Crimson Sweet OP and saved seeds from them. Yes they were all ripe in about one week. Next year I will choose more.
|
|
|
Post by Leenstar on Dec 5, 2011 21:31:22 GMT -5
This looks like Golden Midget which I grew 2 years ago from SSX. It was decent. Middling sweet and neat that the melon and vines turn yellow when ripe. Problem is they are tiny melons with normal sized seeds. Add to that the fact that it is hardly the mostsweet melon I ever ate had made me reluctant to grow it again Well... I guess i can officially say my watermelon experiment this year was successful... I said if i got one ripe melon i'd call it a success. Well, I got one today... sort of... The problem is that it was about the size of a tennis ball. It actually was mildly sweet for it's pinkish hue. I'm not sure what happened to the plant, i found it turning yellow along with this melon yesterday. I doubt this is the normal size for this melon, but it seems to have somewhat made it. And almost all of the seeds look like they have also reached maturity. I have added the seeds to my mix for next year. haha
|
|