It’s depressing me to have that last post be on top of the page, here. Instead let’s all admire the latest arrival at Casa Mir:
I’ve been trying to grow melons in my garden for years, and this year—the year my garden surely should be dead of neglect—is of course the year that they took. We’ve had a lot of rain, you see. (Also: irony.) I have trellised the sugar baby vines and dutifully constructed pantyhose slings for my budding fruits, and although my reading told me all about how fruits should reach at least eight pounds and sound hollow and blah blah blah, this morning this melon had made an executive decision and broken free of both its vine and sling.
At six and a half pounds even, it may be a little premature. But it sounds hollow, so who knows. My boys arrive home tonight after being away for a week; I’ll save it for them. We’ll cut it open tomorrow and see if it’s any good. And if it’s not, well, I’ll try not to take it personally. (If it is, I won’t take that personally, either.) It’s just a melon.
Sometimes a melon is not just a melon.
I, for one, am glad that you didn’t have to actually give birth to this latest arrival.
You know, Summer, I was thinking this melon was kind of wimpy, but your comment makes me realize it weighs more than Monkey did when he was born. Perspective!
I hope it’s yummy!
It’s your melon! Am thinking fuzzy melon thoughts.
Melon!
Very impressive!! Thanks for sharing. I’m sure your boys will enjoy the harvest!
I’m hoping it’s a yummy one! Love to you all.
Here’s hoping the melon brings your day some sweetness!
Forever and ever and always when I see a melon I will hear that sweet little old lady in ‘When Harry Met Sally’ saying, ‘I knew. I knew the way you know about a good melon.’
That looks like a very good melon.
Hooray for melons! Our garden has thus far provided 8 cherry tomatoes.
leave it to a guy to make this observation:
You seem to talk a lot about your ‘wimpy melons’.
this moment of levity brought to you by the 10 year old boy in all of us…. I hope it brings the chuckle for which it is meant.
A melon-choly post, but with sweetness. Rain should result in sweetness! Here’s wishing you more and more.
Along Frank’s lines, I was thinking if there were two of them, we could spend all day making jokes about your “melons!”
Melon! Sweet!
“melons”! Funny!!
The 10 year boy made me laugh! Can’t wait to hear more about how good it is/was?
I have NEVER been able to grow melons, despite years and years of trying. Good for you! I always neglected mine, though, so perhaps that’s not the key. ;)
It is taking a great deal of restraint, but I shall not embark on a tirade of sophomoric one-liners involving “pantyhose slings and budding fruits.”
I would like Michele’s comment if I could.
@ Megan — me too! I’ve been buying mini-watermelons, and every single time I get home and unload the groceries I have to say that. It’s a problem.
I hope that melon tastes as good as it looks, because it looks good and I believe that it wouldn’t have broken free like that if it weren’t ready to be eaten!
What Michele said. :-)
I along with Becky I would “like” Michele’s comment but I can’t because I am cracking up!
Melons are wonderful. I tried to grow ones this summer, but the dogs ate them.
I still stand by my mantra “mother nature is the meanest mother of them all”. To be fair, she can also provide an unending amount of simple pleasures. Enjoy your melon!
It only grew because you weren’t looking. Nature is perverse that way.
Hope it’s good!
We have a newish apple tree and its apples keep jumping off all by themselves. Thus, in addition to being slightly mealy, they are also bruised. Which means I’ve been making a lot of apple pies and apple sauce, which are actually delicious! In a similar vein, I came across a recipe for “watermelon soup” a few weeks ago. I initially thought it sounded disgusting, but out of curiosity I read further, and it turns out that you add rum? So in fact, it’s actually a watermelon cocktail! We tried it: sublime over ice. Maybe you could make watermelon “soup” out of your melon if it isn’t appetizing enough to eat… ;o)
One year we grew watermelons. We live in a mountain climate with a supershort growing season. Everyone said “DON”T TRY IT!” “YOU”LL NEVER DO IT!”
But we did.
I did not know about the pantyhose sling, but other than that, I nurtured my little babies.
Then, one appeared! It grew and grew. It seemed like it might make it.
The vine flourished.
It was glorious.
Then right before it was all the way ripe, a damn deer got into our garden enclosure and ate all the rind off.
The End.
My experience with watermelons is that even if you pick them too early they’re still edible. Less sweet and with a wider white area than you’d expect but still juicy and yummy in their own way.
p.s. I have a lot of experience with under and over ripe melons because all those tricks about how to tell when they’re ripe often contradict each other and half the time are inaccurate. They are fickle, melons.
Yaaa – insert 12 year old boy comments about “premature melons” and “breaking free of vine and sling” and have a good chuckle or give me the MOM look. Meh either is good.
The color of that melon is beautiful. It looks hand painted.
I’m happy you were in the mood to make this entry :)
If you wish: Tape a few pictures into a tiny photo album. Or 2. One for your daughter, one for you.
Make a little personal note in the book “12,000 things to make you happy“ (maybe I messed up the title….)