Wednesday, August 2, 2006
I Still Want My Cantaloupe.
Most of the vegetables in my garden I start from seed. In late April I had some plots weeded and composted (had just moved here) but I had only a few seeds started. I went to Home Depot and their transplants looked pretty sad. Went over to Lowe's where things were only slightly better.One of the transplants that I bought was a cantaloupe. The tag didn't list the variety. I don't like it when the growers do this.
I've never grown cantaloupe before, but luckily I planted it in an area with plenty of room. It took awhile for it to start growing, but once it did there was no stopping it. I was happy to see all of the yellow blossoms, but my happiness died off just as quickly as the blossoms dropped off.
I read some info on the internet that said these were female blossoms and that them dropping off was normal. Later there would be male blossoms that would produce fruit.
There were new blossoms and they did start producing fruit, but then another problem. The fruit seemed more to resemble that of acorn squash. A neighbor looked at them and said that her cantaloupe looked like cantaloupe and agreed mine looked like some kind of squash. The outside was green in color.
Later one of the small fruits started turning yellow like it was rotting. After cutting that one off I cut it open and it did smell like cantaloupe. Happiness again.
Looking on the internet I found the photo from a seed company that looked like mine. It is called Sweet Barcelona Hybrid.
When the first fruit was ready, I cut it open and am happy to say it is a cantaloupe or some kind of a melon. It is lighter orange in color than a cantaloupe and has a taste like a mix of a cantaloupe and a honeydew. Not bad.
I'm starting seeds of Imperial 45.
I still want my cantaloupe.
Labels: Cantaloupe, Imperial 45, Sweet Barcelona Hybrid
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