As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
I always try to give plant reviews for the garden as the things you read online are horseshit and the things you read in descriptions are bullshit. I have never been able to grow a Minnesota Midget muskmelon, no matter how easy they say it is.
I have though in my hostile environment, have been able to grow cantaloupes. The thing is, you always hear how femmie France is in being like the Garden of Eden, and the brier ain't no Garden of Eden, but I can grow French things here like they were built for this area.
It is a long process from my youthful exuberance in reading Gurney's catalogues which suckered me into buying shit that would not grow in France. The reality is though that much of what I was ordering was not like these heirlooms now, and that stuff would not grow here, but the stuff I order runneth over the wall.
I used to not like muskmelons as they were odd tasting and burned my throat. The first real melons I grew were some seed I picked out of the neighbor's trash pile melons, and it was a hot dry year and I grew like 20 melons.
My favorite melon is the Collective Farm Woman, as I like the honeydew type. We actually got a very good , whitish green honeydew which I plan to plant next year in saving the seed, but this year in not having the time to dig through old seeds, I opted for Noir des Carmes, or the Black Rock Melon from the Carmelite monks of France.
I had grown Petit Gres Rennes, the Little Grey Melon and it was delicious. Again, a French melon in the brier and it was just wonderful in even beating the hybrids.
As for Stephanie's melon, I have had a number of them rot. I checked them the end of August, and they were black green. I was not wading through things but the experts said this cantaloupe was ripe when the tendril dried up. I like melons that slip, and as they were black yet, I left them. Much to my dismay, I came back and there were 3 orange melons a week later in the beginning of September in one being rotten.
We have had about a dozen of them on two hills. Too much to eat, but we are trying.
They are not huge melons, softball size, but they apparently split when ripe and they also have those damned black muskmelon beetles that chew holes in them.
I put up a hog panel trellis for them to grow on........yeah sure the French poofed at that and grew on the ground.
The soil was ....kind of sand and cinder, which the old man dumped in there. Not the best but the cukes and melons loved it. I had to water a great deal, which is a no no on melons, so we sort of got some watery flavored fruit which is kind of disappointing. I will try them again next year and plant Petit as a gauge to judge how things are as I know how Petit tastes.
I think it was over watering as I told TL to smell these melons and they are just wonderful in the citrus scent. I noticed this was pronounced as I picked two and had them in the pick up, and in the heat of an 85 degree sun, they just perfumed the cab.
It is hard in a pioneer garden in a drought, waiting on the money for a tractor, so I can dig to China and incorporate compost to get things working so the fruits will be flavorful. The Noir did all I could expect as they produced a number of fruit in a drought. It is not many people who have too many melons so they rot, so Stephanie's melon has done all it can be expected. I just have to do a better job.
I'm watching a squirrel out the window on the other place, 75 yards away on a branch, shucking a black walnut. He hates the cams over here and sticks his face into them often enough.
I have the garden spot picked out over here too and so much want to be raising things here as Grampa did. Stephanie's melon will be coming too, even if the soil is not sandy here, but then whose soil is, really, as even in the city you can dig different soils up on a lot if you move 10 feet.
Noir des Carmes are lovely melons. They relish heat and if you water in a drought, they will still produce. I just did not know that France was a big ass desert. It always seemed so cheese and wine to me.
Once again, another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
agtG