Vokar
Blooming
Posts: 183
|
Post by Vokar on Aug 29, 2019 0:17:11 GMT -5
desertwoman, And it's in a pint jar to go in the freezer. How long did you freeze it?  It's in the feezer, now: 
|
|
|
|
Post by binnylou on Aug 29, 2019 1:05:03 GMT -5
Vokar, Honeycomb is an excellent melon. I’ve grown them for several years. If one likes honeydew, this is the one to plant. It’s usually a six pound fruit for me, in a normal year.
|
|
Vokar
Blooming
Posts: 183
|
Post by Vokar on Aug 29, 2019 1:06:48 GMT -5
If anyone wants some Honeycomb F2 seeds, as well as Honeycomb x Torpeda F2 seeds, let me know. I have a feeling you might like them. They're not true-to-type, but I like everything they've grown, so far. The plants have had few, if any, issues.
|
|
Vokar
Blooming
Posts: 183
|
Post by Vokar on Aug 29, 2019 1:13:58 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by binnylou on Aug 29, 2019 2:41:51 GMT -5
Vokar, same here. That’s where I purchase my honeydew seeds, along with lots of other seeds.
|
|
Vokar
Blooming
Posts: 183
|
Post by Vokar on Aug 29, 2019 4:01:09 GMT -5
binnylou , Cool. Ashkahabad is another favorite honeydew of mine, so far, but it's later than Honeycomb F1. I really like the very richly green flesh and the always-yellow rind (not just when ripe). Good-sized fruits. Swan Lake is pretty good, and kind of like Honeycomb F1 in flavor, but small and much firmer-fleshed (white-fleshed, though). Probably not as early, but it is quite prolific. I grew it in 2015. This year, Huerfano Bliss is doing quite well, especially considering it's against an eastern fence that blocks out the eastern sun (though it's not early this year). I do have it trellised, though, and supported Cucumis melo melons always seem to do better, IME, so far. No ripe ones, yet. We just have a hog wire panel leaning against the fence with rocks or something to stop it from collapsing. Easy trellis!  I've used large wooden tomato-style cages for other melons (they're about twice as big as regular tomato cages). Healy's Pride is doing really well in one of those, this year (it set at least four very large fruits; in 2015, uncaged, it produced one). Last year the cage was on a Brandy Boy cross F1 tomato (which did extremely well). The year before, it was on a Metki Dark Green Serpent melon, which did phenomenally. The year before that I had one on a Matina tomato, which did awesomely, and on a Ginger's Pride x Ha'Ogen F1 melon which did phenomenally. Of course, it could be coincidence. They may have done well, anyway. However, a certain melon this year had stopped producing fruit for a good while, but then the plant found a random unused trellis stuck in an empty ~five-gallon bucket, and climbed it, after which it set a couple fruit, on it, which are growing to size quite nicely (and bringing the trellis, which wasn't designed to support melons, down). Anyway, if you want lots of fruit, I recommend a good trellis. It doesn't seem like a big deal for watermelon, though, but muskmelons seem to love it, even if it's just a couple feet off the ground.
|
|
|
|
Post by desertwoman on Aug 29, 2019 8:30:46 GMT -5
How long did you freeze it? I have several jars of watermelon puree that will store in the freezer throughout the winter/spring. For test purposes I froze one jar until solid (at least overnight) and then defrosted and taste-tested it . |
|
Vokar
Blooming
Posts: 183
|
Post by Vokar on Aug 31, 2019 0:26:19 GMT -5
desertwoman , The verdict is, it still tastes good, but it doesn't taste the same. It's a good treat.
|
|
|
|
Post by desertwoman on Aug 31, 2019 8:42:03 GMT -5
It will be a great treat this winter! ;)
|
|
|
|
Post by pepperhead212 on Sept 7, 2019 18:38:28 GMT -5
I just harvested 2 more watermelons - Blacktain Mountain. I only got one melon from one of the plants, while the other of the two has given me 3, and who knows, maybe another!  2 more Blacktail Mountain watermelons, 9-7, 83 & 74 oz. by pepperhead212, on Flickr Last night I made something unusual - a watermelon rind (a.k.a. watermelon whites) curry! I was going to pickle them, but they seemed a little thin for this, and I looked up watermelon rind chutney, and also came up with curry recipes, so that's what I did! It was good, but not as good as the okra/shallot curry I made today. |
|
|
|
Post by tom 🕊 on Sept 7, 2019 19:30:54 GMT -5
I just harvested 2 more watermelons You have what I wanted -- small watermelons. My Blacktail Mountain were like 15 pounds. I've tried repeatedly, but small watermelons do not do right for me. I suppose it's the climate. My regular watermelons are 20-30 pounds, and they take up too much space in the refrigerator. My late brother-in-law was of the opinion that I should have watermelons by the 4th of July because watermelons by the 4th are worth much more. I thought that if I grew small watermelons, I could make the 4th, but I've had nothing but bad luck with small watermelons. |
|
|
|
Post by pepperhead212 on Sept 7, 2019 19:55:54 GMT -5
tom 🕊 My melons didn't start producing until after that intense heat of July - a few male blossoms, but that was all. I guess this variety doesn't like the heat as much as some. And I thought that I'd get more, with smaller ones, but it didn't work out that way. If I had been impressed with them, I would have saved some seeds.
|
|
Vokar
Blooming
Posts: 183
|
Post by Vokar on Sept 12, 2019 22:49:09 GMT -5
tom 🕊 , Most of ours are small no matter what variety they are (with a few exceptions). I definitely recommend trying Verona and Santo Domingo Winter, if you want earlier ones. Verona will probably get quite large for you, though. Santo Domingo Winter isn't large. I've tried a lot of watermelons, and those are my earliest (other than Blacktail Mountain); some crosses I have are early, too. Please refrigerate Santo Domingo Winter for a few days before eating (it seems to taste much, much better and sweeter that way). What I like to do with large watermelons that won't fit in the refrigerator is this: 1. Cut the entire rind off. 2. Cut it into wedges 3. Eat your fill. 4. Put the rest of the wedges in gallon zipper bags, and refrigerate. Don't worry about all the juice that forms eventually. It's good to drink and doesn't hurt the taste of the fruit. It should keep for a good while like that (perhaps up to a couple weeks), but the longer you keep it, the more juice will come out. You can put the gallon bags in a large bowl if you're worried about them leaking.
|
|
|
|
Post by Mumsey on Sept 14, 2019 4:57:42 GMT -5
tom 🕊, We have good luck here with Sugar Baby, a small melon less than the size of a volleyball. They did OK for us this year, it's the larger variety that was a bust. Has to be the weather because last year those same larger ones were giants.
|
|
|
|
Post by tom 🕊 on Sept 14, 2019 6:09:16 GMT -5
We have good luck here with Sugar Baby, Deer got my Sugar Babies. Last week I suggested to nephew that he take up deer hunting here. |
|
