Post by Alan on Aug 23, 2007 22:56:35 GMT -5
This year i've made a killing off of watermelons and cantaloupes (or more correctly, muskmelon), however they are the one thing that I didn't grow here on the farm and bought elsewhere, owing to the fact that I was always told melons would not grow here. Anyhow, to make a long story short, a nice trialng program was put into place for both watermelon and cantaloupe this year (research paper pending) and I can say with some confidence that given the right TLC you can get one heck of a bumper crop of melons here in this southern Indiana, tobacco farm soil.
So, i've been looking at my options for next year, that is, determining the right varieties to grow for market, what tastes the best, what looks the bests, will hold for a few days, has novelty, brings back childhood memories, and will make my customers happy. I'd like to get some opinions from my good friends here.
One melon that I know will show up here on the farm next year will be the Charleston Grey, simply because I feel that it is a great all around watermelon with a better taste than many of the old open pollinated varieties and definetly better than these modern hybrids, another melon that is pretty much a guarantee is the Sugar baby because of it's selling power, my trials have produced seed for these two melons this year as well so I have a good stock of them which should now have some degree of drought resistance since they were in no way irrigated.
I recently ordered some Bi-colored watermelon seed (f-1 hybrids) from Johnny's selected seed called sorbet swirl and gold flower respectively, they are yellow with a red streak down the middle. I ordered them out of curiosity as well as a desire to de-hybridize them and use them for breeding material.
I also recently bought Amy Goldman's "melons for the passionate grower" book which has some nice descriptions and histories, but as is so often the case the book is aimed at those with whom the actual production and holding qualities are not a concern, not to mention much of the seed mentioned can only be obtained if you are a member of the SSE, which is fine, except the small amount of seed offered from SSE members when I would more than likely need a few hundred seed of each.
Now, I do entirely intend on growing at least one other watermelon:
Cream of Saskatchewan simply because i've never had a white watermelon and it's diminuitive size would make it easier to sell to the curious market customer.
Otherwise I am looking for suggestions for the following.......
A good, large sized, tasty, productive, disease tolerant, open pollinated Orange Water Melon
A good, large sized, tasty, productive, disease tolerant, open pollinated Yellow Water Melon
and an op version of the bi-color type watermelons
I would also need to be able to find these through commercial vendors or a place where I can pick up a large sized seed sample for a trade or two.
I also am looking for a suggestion for a good green fleshed muskmelon/nutmeg/cantaloupe
Rodger, I know you have experience growing watermelon and I have really enjoyed your photos this year, any advice?
Thanks so much for your help guys!
So, i've been looking at my options for next year, that is, determining the right varieties to grow for market, what tastes the best, what looks the bests, will hold for a few days, has novelty, brings back childhood memories, and will make my customers happy. I'd like to get some opinions from my good friends here.
One melon that I know will show up here on the farm next year will be the Charleston Grey, simply because I feel that it is a great all around watermelon with a better taste than many of the old open pollinated varieties and definetly better than these modern hybrids, another melon that is pretty much a guarantee is the Sugar baby because of it's selling power, my trials have produced seed for these two melons this year as well so I have a good stock of them which should now have some degree of drought resistance since they were in no way irrigated.
I recently ordered some Bi-colored watermelon seed (f-1 hybrids) from Johnny's selected seed called sorbet swirl and gold flower respectively, they are yellow with a red streak down the middle. I ordered them out of curiosity as well as a desire to de-hybridize them and use them for breeding material.
I also recently bought Amy Goldman's "melons for the passionate grower" book which has some nice descriptions and histories, but as is so often the case the book is aimed at those with whom the actual production and holding qualities are not a concern, not to mention much of the seed mentioned can only be obtained if you are a member of the SSE, which is fine, except the small amount of seed offered from SSE members when I would more than likely need a few hundred seed of each.
Now, I do entirely intend on growing at least one other watermelon:
Cream of Saskatchewan simply because i've never had a white watermelon and it's diminuitive size would make it easier to sell to the curious market customer.
Otherwise I am looking for suggestions for the following.......
A good, large sized, tasty, productive, disease tolerant, open pollinated Orange Water Melon
A good, large sized, tasty, productive, disease tolerant, open pollinated Yellow Water Melon
and an op version of the bi-color type watermelons
I would also need to be able to find these through commercial vendors or a place where I can pick up a large sized seed sample for a trade or two.
I also am looking for a suggestion for a good green fleshed muskmelon/nutmeg/cantaloupe
Rodger, I know you have experience growing watermelon and I have really enjoyed your photos this year, any advice?
Thanks so much for your help guys!
