Charantais melon
Crane melon and Sugar Baby watermelon
Anne Arundale melon plant under the corn stalks
My melon plants are looking really scrawny still. The cool, wet weather has not been good for them. They've ended up buried beneath tall corn or rampant squashes. But this week is finally perfect melon weather - 90*F and full sun. Fruit is setting. But it seems late to me and I'm wondering if any will have time to ripen.
The real farmers have plenty of melons already. I had a very nice melon from Picadilly Farm (NH) last night. The good news is I've discovered another delicious martini! Perfect for the hottest days of summer. Cheers!
8 comments:
I hope the Charentais sets for you. I am thinking there should be just about enough time for them to set. Of course the heat we have been getting lately will have to stick around for that to happen. The martini looks excellent, I will have to try that one. I just saw a cucumber cocktail recipe that called for cucumber juice, ice, gin and a few whole blueberries mixed in.
I love seeing all these martinis you're making. I guess I'm just an olive girl. Boring, but pleasurable anyway.
Last week was our first burst of 90, and I'm trying to decide whether to sow pea seeds for a fall crop. I might wait a bit, because right now the leaves of the tomatoes are shading the pea spot.
It's been such a sad thing to read about the blight in your area. We've had a huge amount of rain, but it's warm enough that the garden is ok.
My melons are finally putting out female blossoms, no fruit set yet. It's frustrating isn't it? I , like you, am keeping fingers croseed I get a few melons out of the bunch....all are a minimum of 82 days out, some closer to 110. How about yours?
Dan, Thanks for the martini recipe. Sounds very good! Will definitely try it.
Fiona, The fall peas are so confusing to me. For the past two years I've sown after it cools down and it ends up being too late. Fall can be short. I actually planted some peas about 3 weeks ago and they looked good, but this week may be too much heat for them. Maybe next week I'll put in some more.
Kelly, My melons are all listed as 75-80 days. But that's days from planting to harvest. If the weather holds and the plants are big enough to support fruits (mine are not) you should get melons 35-45 days from flowering, depending on the temperature (UMN Extention). 45 days from today is September 30.
Four out five varieties I sowed are 75-80 days as well, so in theory, they should be yeilding ripe fruit....I didn't know about the 35-45 days from flowering bit, that is interesting.
Ah melons. Didn't plant those; sad. You always make the most unique and best looking martinis
it's really interesting to see your plants as I hadn't before made the connection between melons and the courgette family. kind of obvious now I think of it but curious that they don't like alot of rain
I'm not sure melons don't like the rain, but they want lots of sun and heat. And are sensitive to mildew.
Paul left this great comment on another post:
Kathy ... after years of trying I can attest that organic melons are next to impossible. However, if you want to give it your best shot, here is what you do.
1. Plant them in FULL sun.
2. Give them something to climb up (keep most of the plant off of the ground).
3. Provide constant drip irrigation.
4. Plant them in your best heavily manured soil ... pure rotted manure is not overkill.
5. Cover the whole mess with floating row cover to keep out the beetles.
6. Hope or pray ... your personal choice.
This is why most are grown in new desert environments with artificial water sources ... the environment is inhospitable to fungus and bad insects. Nevertheless, they are still sprayed with systemics.
Paul, August 19, 2009 11:55 AM
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