On Calvin's birthday we decided it would a good time to harvest one of his melons. 
I gave him a knife and he cut it off the vine. It was HEAVY!!! The thing had to weigh at least 20 pounds!
Alas, it was NOT RIPE!!! Calvin was so let down, I thought he was going to lose it right there (he didn't). I don't know how to tell when watermelons are ready -- do you? We thumped it and it sounded like the ones you buy in the store. We have two more on the vine, though one looks like it's dying. So I think we have one more shot at having a home grown watermelon. Please, any advice on how to tell when it'll be ready is greatly appreciated.Next year we'll try and find a smaller variety.
3 comments:
Oh, no! It sure LOOKED good. it's not a yellow variety? what a letdown...
I found this cool site from the farmer's almanac called "nine ways to tell when your watermelon is ripe". Hope it helps...
http://www.almanac.com/food/watermelonripe.php
I seem to remember that my grandmother, who grew some fine melons in her day, never brought in a melon until its stem had dried up...
she used to place them on inverted coffee cans once they started getting big, too, so they wouldn't get yucky on the bottom.
My son Calvin says that watermelon is waaay too small! He's kidding, of course. He's grown melons a couple of years, but here in AZ they don't get very big -too hot, and too dry most of the year, and too wet right when they're getting ripe.
Anyway, harvest the melons when: the stem that leads from the melon to the main vine is completely dry, the rind is hard to scar with a fingernail, and the underside is a much lighter color than the top side.
Hope that helps! :)
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