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| I planted my first garden this year, but didn't think to save the seed packets. This melon, I think, is some kind of cross between a honeydew and cantaloupe. It may have been from a Burpee or Hart Seed packet, but not certain. I'm trying to figure out how to tell if the melon is ripe.
If anyone can tell me what the variety is, or, even better, how to gauge ripeness, I'd be very grateful! Link to second photo:
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Follow-Up Postings:
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| smell it. if it smells like melon its ripe |
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| I know that's good general advice, but unfortunately I have a sinus condition and have very little sense of smell. I'm trying to find other ways of testing ripeness, but can find nothing about honeydew-cantaloupe crosses, or whatever that thing is that I have growing in my garden ... |
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| Thanks -- I looked at that one previously in my search, but the description says it's lightly netted (and it shows in the website's photo), whereas my melon's skin is smooth as silk. Is netting something that can develop during the ripening process? |
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- Posted by fatamorgana Zone 5/6 (My Page) on Sat, Aug 18, 12 at 15:08
| Are you positive this is a melon? It looks so much like a pumpkin or another type of squash to me. Did you plant any squash? FataMorgana |
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| FataMorgana, you may be onto something. Actually, my 11-year-old son planted this part of the garden. He was supposed to have planted "Connecticut Field Pumpkin" in that space. The hybrid melon was supposed to be planted several feet away. Nothing came up in the melon's bed, however, and when the fruit started to appear on the plant in question, it didn't (at least initially) look like pumpkins. My niece, who grew pumpkins the previous year, said that her pumpkins had furrows right from the beginning, whereas these fruits were smooth -- and more yellow than orange. Now it does seem like some small furrows are forming. The other complication is that further down the row, where my son was to have planted sunflowers, a single plant emerged that is obviously a pumpkin -- a giant one. The fruit is just starting to emerge, and they are large and furrowed. So we thought *that* was the Connecticut Field Pumpkin. Maybe that's just a volunteer plant that coincidentally sprouted there? (Very unusual, since all the soil medium in the raised beds is new - no weed seeds or anything in it.) Will a round, creamy yellow fruit eventually turn into a Connecticut Field Pumpkin? |
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- Posted by fatamorgana Zone 5/6 (My Page) on Sat, Aug 18, 12 at 19:54
| Perhaps. I'm not sure. But the fruit and the stem on the fruit seem so more in keeping with some type of squash, like a pumpkin. By the way, if you compost and use that compost, pumpkin and squash volunteers are possible. FataMorgana |
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| FataMorgana, yes, I think you solved the mystery. I googled images of young pumpkins, and I can see that sometimes they are round, yellow and fairly smooth -- just like these. Other varieties are green, oblong and mottled -- like the volunteer pumpkin down the row. We do compost, but the garden won't see any of it until next spring. In the new veggie garden we have peat moss, vermiculite and "LeafGro" compost -- made by the county from leaf and grass clippings. It's highly filtered and sterile, so it's still a mystery to me where that one pumpkin came from ... Thanks for your help! |
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- Posted by fatamorgana Zone 5/6 (My Page) on Sun, Aug 19, 12 at 10:21
| Pumpkins are a fun in the garden - especially for young people like your son. To carve a pumpkin you grew? Great, great memories and a wonderful hook to inspire interest in gardening. FataMorgana |
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