How can US govt publication be copyrited? Maybe the concern was posting the whole thing.

Mystery to me Marshall. Wish just the CR material was deleted and not everything. Throwing out the baby with the bathwater? I may just post the sites from now on with just a snippit to get the subject matter rolling.

You have a good attitute about your posting vgkg, and I am glad that this hasnt dampen your spirits. I look forward to reading what you bring to the forums as with most everthing in this forum. Long live the environmentalist of the world!!!

Hey, vgkg.,

As I was reading your post, I was eating one of those Sweet Beauty watermelons........this one was especially good.

Vgkg, I'm glad you weren't withdrawn along with the thead.

Thanks Sue, me too Althea! :o)
You dog Wayne, ha! I won't be far behind, looking forward to a 9.4 brix Sweet Beauty soon....but I won't be eating it sooo late in the evening (if you know what I mean - LOL).

I also appreciate your posts. Very interesting info that I would not normally have the time to seek out.

Haven't heard of Sweet Beauty, but I do have New Queen and Black Diamond almost ready to eat.

Yeah, keep up the good work, vgkg.

You folks are too kind :)
I'd best stop wasting space and find something about oceans, ha. Nothing much newswise is going on right now but this site below is a good one to track the expected onslaught of Hurricanes. Emily is now on her way...while Dennis leftovers are dumping on the midwest (you should be getting a piece of that Wayne).

Here is a link that might be useful: View from Space

Is it too late to add to the watermelon discussion? I'm envious of you people who are already eating watermelon. We planted Moon & Stars, later than we would have liked, so still need to wait two more months for the tasting.

I planted lots of melons and some watermelons but we've had too much cool and overcast weather to advance the plants much. I have dozens of Ambrosia and Spear muskmelons close to pickable. Lots of flowers on the watermelons but no fruit set (time to get out the thin paint brushes.)

Watermelon chat would be Great! (so if any of you non-melon heads don't mind I'll start a real ocean thread when something "important" ocean-wise comes up). Besides, ocean-water-melon, it's all connected. Short on time now (dinner's calling) but Ambrosias are Great aren't they Marshall! It's my fav orange melon (although I'm trying out Orangeglo WM this year). As you all know, Wayne is the melon cornasuier (sorry Wayne, sp) around here. Gotta run...ater

Vgkg,
I picked a Tiger Baby that weighs 15 and a half pounds. That's a big "baby". Strange...last year my extra early Tiger Baby plant had 6 melons with an average of 10 pounds. This year it had only 2 fruits....so the whopper baby. My later melons are mostly full-sized varieties. The larger ones are getting to be 15- 20 pounds so far.

Has anyone tried the Sorbet Swirl watermelon; I think I purchased seed from Johnny's. The fruit runs icebox size, or 6-10 lbs, early, good yielding, and absolutely delicious. The flesh is a swirl of yellow and orange with fewer seeds than normal for the type. It has the unfortunate trait of splitting with minor contact when ripe. OTOH, I wow the school kids during farm tours when I do my Ninja Turtle act of using my hand to split the melons into sections for them to eat. :)

Nice Tiger Baby Wayne (yellow right?), let us know how the flavor/sweetness compares to Yellow Doll. Never tried that Sorbet Swirl Marshall but willing to give it a whirl. If memory serves I have the following out there now:
Yellow Doll
Sweet Beauty
Moon & Stars (round & oblong)
OrangeGlo
Yellow Diamondback
Seedless WM (unnamed variety from local Eckard drug store)
Passport (Honeydew)
Ambrosia (cantaloape)
Like your's Marshall my Ambrosia are very close to ripeness and I check them daily for that overnite color change.
Wayne, I found more info on the Passport and it does slip from the vine when ready like a loaupe. Wish I could levitate myself over the 3 plots to get a closer and easier look at them all (my feet aren't as agile as they used to be). This week will bring unpredicable amounts of rain here (from old Dennis downpours) so I'm on SPLIT-ALERT : code orange. 3" fell overnite just 30 miles east of me but nothing here thankfully.
Mudbug, tell me more about New Queen. Below is a good site Wayne posted on the veggie forum a few months ago (icebox variety WM details). You got another site for the Big Boy WMs Wayne?

Here is a link that might be useful: Icebox Melon comparisons (I never knew there were sooo many)

Vgkg-MIL asked me to grow an orange variety for her, so I got the seed from Territorial Seed. This is the first year I've grown it so I'll have to let you know how good it is later in the season (none ripe yet). It's supposed to have very few seeds and weigh 5-6 lbs. 80 days and a 12% sugar content.

Thanks for the link vgkg/Wayne. I had no idea there were so many varieties of icebox melons.Does anyone have a recommended source of seeds for the numerous varieties?

.Does anyone have a recommended source of seeds for the numerous varieties?

Good question. Some varieties are probably thinly scattered around. Others are carried by many companies. I raised a new [for me] small one this year...Smile. I have not eaten one yet so I cannot reccomend it ....Twilleys Seed had that one. My New Queen last year was not as good as Yellow Doll.

Vgkg, Tiger Baby is red. The catalogs are the closest thing I know to describibg varieties....then they are all great there!!!!!
The link below is what today's commercial market is doing. Google searches will find simular sites...mostly geared to seedless hybrids.

Here is a link that might be useful: watermelon trials

The Seed Savers Exchange's Garden Seed Inventory, Fifth Edition (1999), lists 148 commercial varieties of OP watermelons offered by catalogs, 61% available from only one or two commercial sources. The inventory listings give descriptions and sources. I don't know of a similar listing for hybrid seeded and seedless watermelons.

Thanks for the sources!
Well, I picked one Passport honeydew this evening and it's chilling in the fridge for tomorrow's breakfast. When I got home from work Big Storms were brewing all around us so I rushed around picking squash, cukes, and some of the first wave of tomatoes (all excellent at dinner btw). I barely had time to glance at the melon plots and saw that one of the honeydews had turned yellow (these passports look like netted cantaloaupes but a little bigger). Knowing that rain was just a lightning bolt away I tugged at the stem and it did give way. Since it looks like about 20 HD out there this one will be a learning experience on ripeness clues. It "slipped" but not as easy as I'd like. I'll let you know what it was like tomorrow.
BTW, even though 2" rain fell in about all directions we remained just dampened with

Ok, breakfast was good but could have been a bit better. It was a mostly ripe honeydew and was quite sweet but the texture was still a bit too "crisp" towards the rhine, kinda like the store bought melons which are picked a bit early. Still it was good and waiting for a fully ripe HD should be a real treat. Now if I can just dodge any heavy rains for the next week or so most of them (and the cantaloapes) will be harvested. The nearby storms of last nite are the type that just sit over one spot and dump for 2-3 hours.

Thanks for the seed source info. My Moon & Stars are from Seed Savers.

I don't know if this is appropriate for this thead any longer, but in case of a lull in the melon talk, here's something about ocean health. According to this report massive bird die off, believed to be caused by warming ocean temps have affected the food chain causing record deaths in higher species.

Here is a link that might be useful: back to our regularly scheduled discussion

Sheese, that doesn't sound very good Althea. Hopefully it's just temporary condition though the scientists sounded baffled and have never seen this magnitude of die off occur before. I would initiate a new thread with this but can't C&P from here.

BTW, another HDew was completely yellow tonite and it slipped ok. This one will "cure" at room temp for 2 days before it hits the fridge. I think these HDs will last longer than cantaloupes at room temp.

I am only getting my first blooms here, what a tease it is hearing all this watermelon talk.

The first blooms Lrv?!? Ours have only just started taking off during this past week of 90+ degree weather. What variety are you growing?

Picked 4 more passport HDews today. Amazing how fast they turn from green to yellow/orange. They look like loaupes on the outside. One was spilt open but just a bit so I carved off that spot. They are quite sweet & juicy when fully ripe and do taste like Dews do. The Ambrosia loaupes are still hanging tight, no sign of turning yet (hows about yours Marshall, Wayne?). Watermelons still to "pingy" thumping green yet too, no tendrils drying so far. Got 0.4" rain last night, not enough to split anything except for that one HD and some sungold cherry tomatoes. Hope you ladies melons do good for you.

I was at my daughter's place today and checked on the watermelons I transplanted on May 14. Wow, One is about 30 pound and the tendril is brown already! I'm not sure what variety it is as we didn't write the list down and I set out 4 different ones.
Cantaloupes are having a vintage year here. They hadn't done well for me for 3 years.

The large Tiger Baby is excellent eating. Except for Yellow Doll I prefer the larger watermelons for their better taste and texture.

Thanks for asking, mostly asian melons and creta melon.
As far as watermelon a small sweet variety ( cant remember the name right off) and the moon and stars.
By the way, all budded up and showing some color through its tight buds are my RCM roses!!Iam really excited to see them as I just got them earlier this past Spring after your suggestion last year of a great rose to grow.

Both of my climbing roses [also blackberries] were winter killed back last winter. I was pleasantly surprized at how well my Rose America bloomed...gorgeous, beautiful pink, and large high centered blooms in profusion all at once.

I was also surprized how many fruit loaded shoots shot up on my blackberries..especially the Triple Crowns.

althea...I looked again, (sigh) the watermelons have no blooms, I was thinking of the squashes that just recently started blooming. The name of the watermelon I couldnt remember is called "All Sweet" the plant may be about 8-10" but no blooms yet...It has been cool and rainy this season.

lrv,
I have some Allsweet watermelons. It is a full sized melon...I have one about 20 pounds. It is a good open pollinated melon.

thanks Wayne, I will look forward to seeing them grow. Would water walls help, it was below 70 yesterday and today. *Sigh*

I don't think that water walls would help...maybe a sun reflectant wall behind them!
It has been tropical here for a while. I have never seen such growth in tomatoes, squash, melons, pumpkins, and corn.

So warmth and goodly rain surely helps.

As you can see the lettuce is enjoying the cool weather here.
Althea...she opened today! she beautiful, thanks for the recommendation. Due to my organic gardening methods there are a few bug bites on the leaves, but the flowers themselves seem very happy! The walking onions were a trade with a fellow garden webber:)
I really hijacked it this time, I will try to do better inthe future.

Very Pretty pics Sue, nice hen there too.
On the melon front, a nearby storm just gave us some sprinkles last nite and we need another 1" to keep things going now. The Ambrosias are turning orange too and have 3 picked along with about 12 honeydews. Running out of fridge space so neighbors & work folks will get the over flow.
Also picked the first melon last nite. It's one of the large boys, probably 35-40# and either a yellow diamond back or a "tendersweet" (thought I had orangeglo but not), won't know till I cut it open but it's too big to fit in the fridge for now. I picked it because the top rhine was getting a bit of sunscald which was getting worse each day. Not sure if it's ripe but it's has the surface ripples/ridges, yellow bottom, dull thump, but lacks the total brown tendril. Had to pick it though, one more day of sunscald and rot wouldn't be far behind. I'll let this one mellow in the shade for a while...

My Crown Princess Margarita is doing very well despite being eaten by rabbits twice early spring.

My Sweet Dumpling squash is growing like a weed. I need to cut back at least one vine which is growing into the calendula bed. Other vines are now airborne, being directed with stakes as I'm trying to get to grow into the lawn instead of another part of the flower bed where they were headed.

The Moon & Stars have 1+ foot runners, but still small.

My favorite plant for '05 is Hopi Red Dye Amaranth. I need to photograph them so I can look back at their striking beauty in the winter. It isn't blooming yet, but the rich maroon foilage is enough for me.

Vgkg,

Melonman [Missouri] puts shade over his watermelons in the late going.
I haven't picked any full sized watermelons yet. I brought in a nice 10 pound YD today and a Smile [red].

Sue, Is that a New Hampshire Red hen? We used to raise them...a dual purpose breed.

You may be right, I think someone else thought it was a "Sex Link" anyways her name is "Speckie" Her markings remind me of a pheasant. I got her at the local feed and seed store and asked for an assortment of 10 hens not caring what I got.

She definetely has if not all a New Hampshire Red, nonetheless. I dont know much about chickens other than I have had this one for about 5 years now and she lays double and on a rare occasion a triple yolk egg- amazing girl!!

She had a bad spell today and I found her with her head stuck and she could not get out, she was weak and hurt herself trying to get free. I removed her and now have her in a separate area for the night. I hand feed her today...she was holding her head back up after a few hours so I am hoping tomorrow she is feeling like her self again. If its not one thing its another to worry about isnt it?! lol

The triple yolk egg has only happened 2 times and both times this past Spring, ( look like freakin large goose eggs!)she often lays double yolks though, one heck of a nice hen and likes to perch up like 8 to 12 feet up in the trees if I let her. I have to climb up the tree at night to get her down, they dont move once it gets dark ( as you probably know)otherwise its fruitless to try and corner a chicken during the day (for me and my ole hens anyways)
We have lots of wild foxes and coons even coyotees lurking the town here, so cant be too careful.

Althea the rose doubleably opened even more like a david austin today and then dropped down as it was so heavy and large...simply gorgeous and smell divine. And please do post your pictures of your gardens I would enjoy seeing them.

Sure wish I had some good home grown melons to sink into, cant wait!

Wayne I was thinking about placing a little umbrella over it but....and boy that sucker took up 1/3 of the room in my garage fridge - had an inch to spare lenghtwise. The fridge's compressor kept going for 6 hours non-stop after swallowing that one.
Anyways, also picked another 5 asst icebox melons last nite, they each had the tendril, thump, etc signs and the plot needed watering really bad so had to pick them first. Still lots of baby melons taking shape so looks like a longer season than normal here (if more rains come that is). Also picked first 3 ambrosia loaupes.