Raising the beds did the trick for getting melons. They just don't need all the water you'd think, being desert-type plants.
So when this low spot began getting a lot of rain, only the lowest vines suffered a bit of stress.
We'd been a bit busy lately and not kept up on the weeding. But thanks to the mulch we'd laid down in the spring, getting it under control was not too daunting. We pulled the vines in from the paths, pulled a few scraggly weeds out of the beds, and then we just had to clear the paths.
We got a lot of melons over about a month-long period. We lost quite a few, simply because they all came ripe at once and eating more than two a day IS too daunting!
The squash bugs have begun to be a problem here. Not too much damage this year, but next year we'll have to stay on our toes.
They are all gone as of this posting, but we sure enjoyed them!
~Faith
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Fire up the dehydrator! I hear that dehydrated melon is like candy- taffyish.
ReplyDeletei'm still waiting on mine to show signs of ripening, the heat wave seems to be over so it may or may not ever happen this year.
I did consider that, but the sheer amount of water content deterred me. I figured by the time an entire load of watermelon was done, they'd be invisible, and I'd be drowning when I took a breath.
ReplyDeleteI've got little melons sprouting up all over. I wish I could build tiny little greenhouses over the top of them so they'd come to fruition.
~Faith