When is a watermelon mature?

You tap watermelons a bit in the way that you tap cavity walls to determine where the joists are, except in a ying-yang relationship. For joists I look for the presence of fullness. For watermelons, I look for the presence of hollowness. And I have no idea why. And it failed me anyhow. This melon tapped hollow, for two weeks it tapped hollow, it was a good solid green. It was small though. I cut its cord and sliced it. Part of the under-belly was still an anaemic beige, There was no crystallisation, but there were mature seeds. It probably needed another four weeks on the vine. And lots more feeding. Lots more. Next time I should pay more attention to the wizening of the cord. If there is a next time. I ate some, but the flavour was "blah".

Dropping off the perch

I was devastated to find this little Rockie lying on the pebbles this afternoon, being too heavy for his poor vine to hold him. Not that she is big mind you, this rockmelon. Runt-sized would be more like it. It does not smell ripe around the stem-area, so I will leave it another 10 days, and see if any progress can be determined.

And here I am with tickets on myself as a garden whisperer. Baloney! Had I been such, I would have stuck some support under the fruit to help the vine. Better late than never, I supported the second fruit, and the third one is already resting on the pebbles.

The Watermelon is in no hurry either! At least it has set fruit come the new year. There is a week between these two shots. I have the vine trailing in between the Lilli-pilli hedge along the verge. Hope no idle passers-by notice them!

A-moulderin' in the soil

This first one is the Zucchini. This thin layer of white mould is creeping over the entire plant, and the fruit production has dropped away dramatically. There is one (1) fruit coming, plus another flower, plus down at the base, what appears to be a suckered on plantlet which is forming flowers. I want to cure this plant, but shall buy another seedling tomorrow to ensure continuous supply.

This second one is the Rockmelon. All these plants here - the zucchini, the rockmelon, the cucumber, and the watermelon - have a similar habit even though from a different genus. The head of the rockmelon is a bit crowded in the pot, so I will clear that away a bit tomorrow. Mostly, I water these plants with a 3-litre bottle of water every other day. I think it might be more lack of circulating air, rather than overhead watering.

This next one is the Cucumber. This is not a white mould, rather a form of rust, which is probably just a variation upon mould. These cucumber plants (there are three in the same pot) are very fecund. And the final image is that of the Watermelon, which is showing no effect from mould - yet!