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melons
Aug 22, 2014 19:13:08 GMT -5
Post by littleminnie on Aug 22, 2014 19:13:08 GMT -5
We had heavy rain yesterday morning and many of the melons split. I threw at least a couple dozen into the field and still had 52 to sell to the farm store. I am so glad they wanted them! I can't thnk what I would have done with 50 melons after packing shares!
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melons
Aug 22, 2014 21:42:06 GMT -5
Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 22, 2014 21:42:06 GMT -5
littleminnie: That's a great melon harvest. I picked muskmelons in the rain tonight... About 1/2 hour after the downpour started. No way I was willing to leave them in the field to explode. However, there were lots and lots of melons that were almost ripe. Here's hoping that they don't explode before they ripen.
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melons
Aug 23, 2014 13:51:02 GMT -5
Post by 12540dumont on Aug 23, 2014 13:51:02 GMT -5
So far, I don't have a single melon. I'll cross my fingers for you J, more melons. Minnie, that's terrific.
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melons
Aug 24, 2014 10:35:25 GMT -5
Post by mskrieger on Aug 24, 2014 10:35:25 GMT -5
Love hearing the good news, albeit I'm a bit envious. I tried growing muskmelons for the first time this year. Planted Gris de Rennes. The little vines grew and grew and grew, covered with flowers all summer....and not a single fruit did they set. I was about to give up on them, until I noticed a little striped melon hanging from a vine today. OK. Maybe we'll get one. Maybe next year I'll follow Joseph's example and plant a whole variety of muskmelons and see if I can set up a grex that fruits earlier in my climate. How do you guys decide which varieties to grow?
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melons
Aug 24, 2014 11:39:12 GMT -5
Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 24, 2014 11:39:12 GMT -5
Maybe next year I'll follow Joseph's example and plant a whole variety of muskmelons and see if I can set up a grex that fruits earlier in my climate. How do you guys decide which varieties to grow? I pretty much plant anything I can get my hands on... 50% to 95% failure rates are common for me when I first start out, so I've decided that a pretty picture and a glib description aren't very useful to me. What matters is seeds in the ground. The best varieties to start out with are generally those which are most popular in my area. To find that out I go to the mom-pop seed stores that only have one rinky-dink shop and that have a flyer with dates "Planting dates for Cache Valley". The other great source is "producer only" farmer's markets, meaning those markets that require the growers to only bring vegetables that they grew themselves on their own farms. Local farm stands are great if they only sell their own produce. Some of the maxima squash and melons that I started out with were already local landraces before I bought the fruits.
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melons
Aug 25, 2014 5:55:07 GMT -5
Post by mskrieger on Aug 25, 2014 5:55:07 GMT -5
Ah, that's a good strategy. I actually did that with garlic, and it worked well--the local farmer's garlic did much better than the mail-order garlic in the same patch. Unfortunately, I've never seen a locally-grown melon in a market here! Which is odd. I'll have to ask around.
Actually, is the Long Island Seed project still operating? I recall they have a lot of melons, and my climate is very similar (I am just north across the Sound from them.) Anyone know how to get in touch?
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melons
Aug 25, 2014 19:56:22 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by jondear on Aug 25, 2014 19:56:22 GMT -5
I'll have some seeds to share.
My goal for next year is to get some powdery mildew tolerance into my grex. I've identified two types that are very susceptible. They won't make it into next years garden.
I've been harvesting and eating some very tasty melons. More to come...
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melons
Aug 25, 2014 20:01:15 GMT -5
Post by kevin8715 on Aug 25, 2014 20:01:15 GMT -5
Not much success with watermelons and melons this year. All the seedling rather dried up or were eaten. The melon seedling that did make it got taken over by the sweet potato. Though I do have two transplants growing well which are sugar baby and yellow moon and stars. Hopefully I can get seeds for next year and maybe a cross or two from these for the sake of diversity.
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melons
Aug 25, 2014 20:13:08 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by jondear on Aug 25, 2014 20:13:08 GMT -5
Bummer Kevin... I've been thinking of trying some watermelons next year. In fact I got some seeds in a trade last week.
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Post by mskrieger on Aug 26, 2014 6:48:41 GMT -5
Kevin, That's too bad about the watermelon seedlings drying up. They're native to Egypt, I think--can you maybe plant them in sunken beds and flood the beds regularly? Have you tried it? I saw people garden that way in arid parts of central Turkey.
Watermelons can be very robust. A toddler down the street decided to 'plant' a full watermelon's worth of seeds in her parent's garden this spring, and they did shockingly well. We've been eating watermelons aplenty with those neighbors. Sweet and juicy. You just never know what will work until you try it.
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Post by littleminnie on Aug 26, 2014 18:09:33 GMT -5
Melon load #1 from this morning. The white watermelon are Black Seeded Ice Cream. melon load #2 The yellow watermelon are Golden Midget. melons from Sunday splitting isn't quite as bad now. It looks like everything is ready to quit early this year.
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melons
Aug 26, 2014 20:13:42 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by jondear on Aug 26, 2014 20:13:42 GMT -5
Nice varieties...
I just ate a muskmelon cut in half with a scoop of vanilla ice cream in the seed cavity. OK both halves...
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melons
Aug 26, 2014 20:16:24 GMT -5
Post by 12540dumont on Aug 26, 2014 20:16:24 GMT -5
Alas MsK, LI Seeds is no more. You are lucky if you can find someone who still has some of their melons going. I do, PM me your address and I'll send them out. HOWEVER, not until October. Way too busy here to send out seeds. Remind me, later. I did a melon trial a year or so ago, I have a nice little collection of melon seeds. Many of them have crossed. I only saved seeds from the best (Highest Sugar) melons. The only reason I don't have melons this year is well, I didn't plant them till August. Don't look at me like that Joseph. Heck, there's 2 more months of no frost left here. And if it's like last year, we may not have frost till December.
Shocking. Huh?
Regarding LI Seeds, some of the best breeding work ever. We've long suspected that they stopped due to ill health.
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melons
Aug 26, 2014 21:48:58 GMT -5
Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 26, 2014 21:48:58 GMT -5
Regarding LI Seeds, some of the best breeding work ever. We've long suspected that they stopped due to ill health. I agree. I have been amassing a small collection of Long Island Seed varieties that people have been sending me. Many of them are things that I never expect to plant. I suppose I aught to make a list and offer them as gifts to appropriate curators. Many of my current varieties are descended to one degree or other from Long Island Seed breeding projects. I have maintained the snap/wax/romano beans in approximately the same state that I received them. About half of my original shelling pea population was from Long Island Seed Project. My zucchini is probably about 75% descended from the project. My muskmelons and sweet corn have some influence or other. Hard to tell how much at this point. Yup. I've sometimes wished that I would have laid out the cash and asked for one of everything in the inventory.
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melons
Aug 27, 2014 9:57:58 GMT -5
Post by mskrieger on Aug 27, 2014 9:57:58 GMT -5
Argh. Sorry to hear LI seed is no more. I found Ken Ettlinger's email address at Suffolk U (he was a geology prof, I think? ) and wrote to him. I offered to drive out and meet him. Haven't heard back. If there are any other LI Seed contacts who have access to the inventory and are willing to meet me, I will gladly go. I'm right across the water. 1254dumont, that's an awfully generous offer. I'll remember in October, and get in touch. I'll take any/all of the seed you'd like to share, even the reject seed. My soil and climate are dramatically different than yours, and the plants that perform poorly in Northern California (if I'm reading your lat/long correctly?) may be winners in my garden.
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