Happy, you might try posting your request over on the Vegetable Gardening Forum, too. Their might be some folks more informed about this melon over there.

Patty S.

Agreed melons are found in vegetable forums and seed catalogs. In this case Baker Creek has it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Baker Creek

Thank you for the picture, brings wonderful memories of childhood. My dad used to go to Turkmenistan a lot and the one and only present he would bring home was always one or two of these golden sweetness!

I have an Persian melon my mom brought from Iran called KharBoozeh.
Click Here for some pics

The vines are all over the place and growing very aggresively (went up my quince tree and weight of it broke a branch lol). I'll let you know if I get a ripe one and can give some seeds end of the summer if you interested.

-Arian

Everyone thanks for the hints, I seen that website but they been out of stock forever now and that melons is very close in looks of flesh but not size so it must be a tad different. I will try to buy it if they ever come back in stock.

lol welcome Jollyrd

Arian,

I would definitely like to get some seeds if you get any from your melons.
I do not think they are exactly what I am looking for but definitely a relative by shape. I would not mind experimenting.

Also, doesn't kharbozeh just means "melon" in Persian/Farsi? It's not particularly a cultivar name right? It's just what people associate melon with in the region?
I looked on some google pics and it seems like they can vary greatly by looks.
Plus what is kind of funny is "arbooz" in Russian is watermelon. I can see where the word originated now lol.

I opened a new thread in the vegetable forum under the same name as suggested: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/cornucop/msg0815503131707.html

Not sure if it translates into melon as my Farsi is very weak.
My mom made it seem like its the main variety that everyone in Iran likes (think she said only the city of Mashad and maybe another city is famous there for growing it. Other sources online seem to confirm this if you google 'Kharboozeh melon', most articles mention Mashad).
So people seem to call that specific long elongated melon Kharboozeh.
Supposedly very sweet and my mom was saying when they cut into it a little with a knife, the crack goes along the side and cuts the rest of it and spits the melon open easily.

I do see it needs a good Powdery Mildew spray prevention.

Btw, this looks interesting long thread about the topic:
http://www.idigmygarden.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10625

"Many of the names are confusing. The same melon may have different names in different cities, or different melons may have the same names. I have the following:

Alushtar
Bukhara
Kondozi
Kharbozeh
Kharbuza (apparently not the same as Kharbozeh)
Torpedo (that's an Americanized name but it's a pure Asian melon)
A round striped variety from India
A long striped variety from India"

OK, powdery mildew does not seem much of a problem here for me (knock on wood). I do like sweet :), hopefully you will get plenty of melons so I can get some seeds!

Yeah I happen to find that website same time you posted. Haven not read all of their posts but I found a very interesting PDF with all kinds of melons and description on them from Uzbekistan.

Also, some poster in my other thread is from Uzbekistan so hopefully he can send some seeds here.

I planted Uzbek Sweetness this year from seeds I bought from Baker Creek. I'm very glad I did. It was one of the best melons I've ever grown. I did save a bunch of seed, but unfortunately, I do have another variety of melon in the garden only 10 feet away and took no precautions...so it quite possible that the seed is not true. If you would like some of it for a SASBE, email me and I'd be happy to share.

Euarto,

I would definitely like to get some seeds. It's worth trying even if they turn out not true to type. I'll send you an email later on tonight.
But I don't really have any exotic varieties of melons to offer...just started planting myself :)

Hey HappyBallz,
Do you have an email? I can't send you an email from this site. I wanted to send you seeds last year of that Iranian variety.... Not too late to plant now so i can send.

HappyBallz any luck finding them yet? I'm looking to obtain a few seeds to grow them for my wife. She's from Uzbekistan and talks about those melons from her childhood. I thought I would surprise her.

Seeds of Mashadi should be here. People buy kharbozeh in persian stores i believe in LA so no reason why wouldn't have seeds somewhere. Apparently in farmers markets in San Fran: http://www.saturdaymarket.com/exotic.htm and like alot of persian relatives bring back the seeds, so Im sure someone has them (my mom has them but might have gone old). Ebay has it too if you can find a high rated seller: http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/252185702367?ul_noapp=true&chn=ps&lpid=82

Hi,

I been away from garden-web for awhile but seen couple of notifications in my email I rarely use. Anyway, I was able to source some seeds from Russia that had imported melons from Uzbek/Tajik or some other similar central Asian area. I planted them and they grew great, however animals destroyed all the fruit so I never got to taste them. I still have some seeds sitting somewhere but not sure if they are viable(2-3 years old now). I will try and plant some in couple of weeks.