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Post by templeton on May 28, 2012 18:04:58 GMT -5
Rowan, I've got a foodie/gardening relative heading off to Turkey for a few months on thursday. Is their anything I should get her to look out for to bring back? She would probably be happy to look out for seed packets or collect from plates/markets. T
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Post by 12540dumont on May 28, 2012 18:29:30 GMT -5
Gosh, I wonder if there's such a thing as seed packets in Turkey?
Rowan, I loved the photo of the diversity of Turkish melons.
National collection of Cucurbitaceae species at National Gene Bank of Turkey (AARI) consists of 2223 accessions. Collecting activities have been systematically conducted since early 1960s. Anyone tried to get melons for them?
Templeton, squash! melons! cucumbers, ohhh man I wish I was going!
but, who'd watch the farm. I couldn't even go to Mt. Lassen with Leo over the weekend. pooh.
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Post by cortona on May 29, 2012 16:19:46 GMT -5
and weath, and beans...lentils, garbanzos....
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Post by steev on May 29, 2012 23:10:00 GMT -5
I really doubt there can be such a thing as a low water-need melon; that's a big fruit for a vine to produce, and much more succulent than a squash. Just thinking physics, here; but nothing ventured, nothing gained is always the rule. Biology is astonishing in its capacities; praise Life!
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on May 29, 2012 23:54:52 GMT -5
I really doubt there can be such a thing as a low water-need melon; that's a big fruit for a vine to produce, and much more succulent than a squash. Just thinking physics, here; but nothing ventured, nothing gained is always the rule. Biology is astonishing in its capacities; praise Life! The root system of a watermelon plant can extend to a diameter of ~30 feet, so growing a low water-need melon might be as simple as growing melons 30 feet apart in a hexagonal pattern, and keeping the soil well weeded to prevent competition for water. Growing in a moisture retaining (clayish) soil would help as well.
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Post by steev on May 30, 2012 2:07:45 GMT -5
Just so, but that is a matter of practice, not the plant's capacity to perform regardless of human intervention.
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Post by terracotta on May 30, 2012 18:14:26 GMT -5
I really doubt there can be such a thing as a low water-need melon; that's a big fruit for a vine to produce, and much more succulent than a squash. Just thinking physics, here; but nothing ventured, nothing gained is always the rule. Biology is astonishing in its capacities; praise Life! I think that is called drought resistance like davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/60069/
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Post by 12540dumont on May 30, 2012 19:22:29 GMT -5
Okay, there should be lots of watermelons that are drought tolerant. If watermelon is really from Namibia, which is practically a desert, there should be some...of course, I'm not taking into account that Namibia was probably paradise at the time that watermelons came into existence. Sigh... Planted more melons today and some squash. Ran out of trays before I could finish. Alibaba H20 Ananas Golden Jenny Verze Noel Piel de Sapo Farthest North Mix Sweet Freckles LI Exotic LI Italian Canteloupe Golden Honeymoon Grover Delaney H20 Invernale Cortona Pais Casaba Steev Zatta Valencia Winter Sleeping Beauty Charentais Zuccherino LI Late Hopefully I'll get the squash out of the tray and get some more in tomorrow. Time to feed chickens and start dinner. My how the day flies when you're picking and planting. The watermelons I planted on the 12th are all up (except for the Showell ones. I'll try them again this week). Attachments:
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Post by steev on May 30, 2012 22:15:20 GMT -5
I've not found my melon seed from Pai, so it's good you've planted some, Holly. I'm pretty sure where they are, within a couple of cubic yards... Didn't you want to send me some seeds so you'd know where they are? I'll get better, though not likely soon.
I've got to re-seed a few melons, anyway, having had poor sprouting/viability of a few varieties. Unfortunately, your LI Late is in that group, but I still have seed, so hope remains.
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Post by 12540dumont on May 30, 2012 23:20:46 GMT -5
Steev, I'll pull some out of the LI envelope and get them in the mail this week. Mine might have been pulled to early from the vine....bummer that.
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Post by steev on May 31, 2012 2:24:52 GMT -5
Not at all; I have seed, don't bother, please. It's not like I have a shortage of melons to deal with. Let's see what happens when I get to a second round. At this point, one less melon is nearly a blessing. Really, I have so much on my plate! Granted, I dished it up myself.
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Post by castanea on Jun 11, 2012 21:47:13 GMT -5
Melons I planted today:
Golden seeded Uzbeki Afghan yellow Uzbek winter storage Afghan white Karbouza Melon de Luneville Persian melon from Turkey Green Bosnian melon from Turkey XY-28 hami melon Medium size orange flesh hami with reticulated skin Medium size orange flesh hami with green skin Large hami orange flesh Kondozi melon - very large hami type
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Post by raymondo on Jun 12, 2012 3:49:14 GMT -5
Ah melons...deep sigh...November seems an age away.
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Post by 12540dumont on Jun 12, 2012 15:43:45 GMT -5
The first melon up was Paiz from Steev! Watermelons awaiting transplant baskets.... Attachments:
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Post by steev on Aug 6, 2012 22:28:29 GMT -5
Some of my melons have been loving the heat; most notably Sarizeybek (Turkey); Melon de Olor (Spain, from GRIN), and Zatta (Italy). Several of the Turkish melons strike me as closely related to Armenian cuke in appearance, being long, pleated, and white-green, though much plumper. I'm putting any melon I find on a plasticized paper plate, hoping to deter gophers from tunneling up into them. I don't think I've had this much anticipation anxiety since I was a teen-ager with my high-school sweetheart.
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