The great watermelon

This is the great watermelon growing next to the Yucca in July.



Now all the watermelon plants were treated with the same respect throughout the season. But this guy got our attention early on. He was not the first to form, but from the start we knew there was something different about him. Maybe it was his connection with the Yucca, proudly standing guard over his whole vine. Or maybe it was all the early attention he got from all the visitors to the gardens. His position was one of more prominence than that of the vines in the raspberry patch, or those under the pear tree. But whatever, he got a running start on all the other melons this season. His shape was more elongated from the start, most of the others being more circular. Sheila had told me about her granddad putting his watermelon on cedar shingles to keep them from rotting, so we did that.

Here is a good shot of one of the smaller melons on a cedar shingle.


And here is our big guy on the same day!



As the season progressed he continued to grow at a rapid pace. The other melons only got to be half his size. Maybe it was the rain, but then the others had the same amount and didn't take off as he did. And he wasn't in the sunniest spot in the garden. That was where the other three had been all summer long, and still stayed small. Maybe the soil was better, who knows. He just really liked his spot.


He was surrounded by three other melons in the area, none of whom grew as he did.




As we had already picked the one that had split, and it was getting into the end of September, we finally decided to get the last of the melons in before a frost hit, or they split wide open with all the rain showers going on lately.

Here Mia is weighing him. He is 16 1/2 inches long,


and 21 pounds!! We will be cutting him up real soon!!



It's been a terrific season for watermelon in our gardens!!