Saturday, August 16, 2008

Please, No More Watermelon!

We all remember those things our siblings told us to freak us out . "Don't swallow your gum because it takes 7 years to digest," "If you make ugly faces, your face might freeze like that," "If you swallow watermelon seeds, you might grow a watermelon plant in your stomach." The first two I know are not true but after this summer I may actually believe the last could happen (at least if I didn't have a rudimentary grasp of basic plant science).
This summer we had a watermelon plant sprout in our backyard from seeds we spit last summer. It was exciting for the kids to be growing something that they might be able to eat someday. What I did not know is that watermelon vines grow like mad.
The plant is huge, and has produced a number of watermelons. We just picked one that weighed in at 35 pounds! So far we've eaten three, with two 30 pound plus melons to eat. Plus, there are four more growing on the vine now. That doesn't include the first one we picked that wasn't ripe yet and the three that started rotting because they didn't get enough water. Luckily, we're going to visit family in the next few weeks. I'm thinking as more get ripe we'll load some watermelon in our wagon and start "gifting" it to the neighbors. So, if you find a watermelon on your doorstep in the coming weeks, you'll know who to thank.

2 comments:

Debbie's said...

That is AWESOME! Most people have too many zucchinis. Great pics, too :)

camfox said...

That's really cool! I didn't know they were that easy to grow!