The fruits of my labor have finally arrived! The over abundance of yellow flowers from the watermelon and cantaloupe plants have given birth to baby melons. It’s so refreshing to see them. And they are growing so fast. The melons seem to be getting larger each day.
Below: The baby watermelons
There are five baby watermelons in total. They are growing at different rates, but you can already see the stripped markings on its skin. They are going to get so HUGE. I don't remember what variety the watermelons are (the tag has been blown away by the wind), but I do know that this variety is not seedless and can grow up to 60 pounds. It might be a hybrid of some kind. I hope the vine can accompany its growth. I had thought about the trellis/fence idea for these melons, but after seeing this fruit, I’m going to leave the melons alone. I’m afraid that if I do anything, it may strain the plants and hurt my chances of getting ripe and juicy watermelon.
One of the cantaloupe flowers has given birth a rather nice size baby cantaloupe. Its skin is rather fuzzy right now, and I’m guessing that it becomes smoother as the cantaloupe grows in size. In another month, I shall be feasting on some delicious homegrown fruit!
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7 comments:
Hi DP, welcome back, hope you had a good visit. Your melons and 'lope are very cute. I wouldn't try and train them up, too much stress on the vines, as you say. I wanted to let you know that my peppers in our raised box, like yours with bagged soil filling it have done terrible. I have added some, a lot, of black kow as side dressing and everything is looking better. You might want to try that. Thanks for your kind words on my veggie post. It is much appreciated.
Ah, look at the cute babies! I am so excited for you as I know the garden has been a bit slow going. Mine is coming along slowly as well so I can feel your excitment in seeing the babies...
After awhile they will be fine on the vine, sometimes when they are young, they fall off at a touch. But one year I discovered a pumpkin elevated amoung the vine that had grown up and over the tomatoe cages! I didn't even see it til the frost got to the foliage!
They grow pretty fast once they start growing. The little baby cantaloupe get smooth as they get bigger. I love the little fuzzy ones.
I am patiently waiting on mine to get bigger. I was hoping we would have them for the Fourth that is why I grew the "Baby Bush" type. These are small and are ready to eat before the larger ones. But they still need some time. One accidentally got run over by the lawnmower( that's Billy's story and he is sticking to it) and he said they were not quite ripe enough yet.
Those look so cute and promisingly delicious! I'm very jealous because we just didn't have the space this year to grow any melons ... hopefully next year!
Yeah DP! Now make sure you add some compost all along the area it grows. In my experience these feed heavily and will sometimes root along the vine in order to get extra nourishment. Watch for squash borers. Dave just did a recent post on them. Before you know you'll be slurping some watermelon juice!
Hi Frances, I'm actually not leaving for NJ until Tuesday, but I'm so excited. Hmm, thanks for letting me know about your raised box peppers. I've added some black kow recently, and it's actually helped some!
Hi Skeeter, I hope your garden starts to pick up. The hot summer sun and no rain doesn't help. My garden has started to really pick up in the last week! The sprinkler system is really working.
Hi Dawn-The watermelon and cantaloupe are doubling in size every day. I noticed one small cantaloupe had fallen off, like you said, but the other 'loupe is growing stronger. Wow~ What a cool pumpkin surprise. I hope something like that happens with my garden.
Eve-Yikes! I'm sorry to hear about the lawnmower accident. Eek! Hopefully you'll have some delicious baby bush melons soon! They do grow super fast, so happy eating!
Welcome Lacey! Thank you for your kind words! Hopefully next year you'll have the space to grow melons. They are so rewarding at the end, even if they do take up so much space.
Hey Tina-Thanks for reminding me about those nasty bugs! Eek! They did wreck havoc on Dave's garden. I really need to look into preventing that. And thank you for the compost idea. I'll have to keep that in mind as the melons get larger!
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