Watermelons

[TexasJerseyMilker]

I am familiar with the saltyish Pecos river valley and dry county it flows through. The soil is unleached because if scant rain but wherever it gets water it is very lush and fertile .

This place in Oregon my garden and vineyard has clay soil needs PU truck loads of cow manure from the dairy has to be spaded into it. If Pecos Canteloupe like more potassium I could add a little murate of potassium, although my soil test reads adequate potassium.

I have been looking at cantaloupe varieties. The kind commercially grown in California that is shipped all over all season are the ESL varieties. That stands for Extended Shelf Life. Such as Fiji or Shockwave. They are OK but not knock your socks off great. The southern grown heat loving kinds, like these Pecos melons, are likely Athena or Ambrosia. I have never actually grown any melons, although one summer night raided a watermelon patch as a kid with my cousins. The owner came out on the porch with a shot gun and yelled Hey You Kids!

Whatever Pecos seeds Greybeard can send me are probably some of the southern kind. If I grew them in hills the soil would be warmer.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Check out this cantaloupe article .
https://www.epicgardening.com/cantaloupe-varieties/

 

[Ky hills]

If I remember right, the year we grew watermelons and cantaloupes for farmers market, we raised an Athena Hybrid cantaloupe.
The Amish grow a lot of cantaloupe in this area, They grow the same kind I believe. We got the seed from an Amish greenhouse supply company, but they carry other varieties of cantaloupe seeds and other seeds too.

 

[Dave]

In Oregon look for Hermiston melons. They grow great watermelons.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Athena is on my list of best Southern cantaloupes, that and Ambrosia. One of those might be the 'Pecos'.
I see from the above article there is one called Oregon Delicious.
"This heritage Pacific Northwest melon has an extra juicy sweet flavor that melts in your mouth. The fruits are slightly oval-shaped and netted as well as ribbed. If sown in early June, it will yield by mid-September in Oregon. This rare variety takes 80-90 days to mature and is open-pollinated for true-to-type seed saving. "

Actually in this valley of the coast range it is Zone 9 here. Warm season varieties can can grow . So maybe Pecos, what ever breed they are can make it here.

Unfortunately I don't have room for water melons. I've got Kentucy pole beans, a jungle of indeterminant EarlyGirl tomatoes because I didn't pinch the suckers, zucchini, yellow squash, cucumbers, cabbage, celery, lettuce, mustard greens, strawberries, peppers and herbs in a 20'x20' space. It's fenced with cattle panels with chicken wire to keep out the cattle and hens with a hot wire around the top to keep out the coons.

It might be possible to grow water melons and cantaloupes in the vineyard next year. I have 40 vines of various muscat varieties I grew from cuttings. I could make some hills of supper good dirt and manure in there and let them go wild in all the space they want.

 

[chaded]

I have a 1200 sq ft plot of mostly sugar baby watermelons with some Ambrosia cantaloupes. I can’t really eat watermelon or any melons but the kids and wife will enjoy them. If they are any good. Lol.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Search Assist
Sugar Baby watermelons are small, round melons that typically weigh between 6 to 12 pounds and have a sweet, fine-textured, medium-red flesh. They are known for their compact size, making them ideal for small gardens and easy to store in refrigerators.

These are another one of the small refrigerator melons. Unfortunately, most Americans are urban/suburban now and don't have large families of water melon feasters.

Texas HEB as I recall sold bins of large water melons out front in the summer that were truck 'tailgate' watermelons for feasting purposes, because, well, everything is bigger in Texas.

I am looking for a mid size watermelon variety that can gorge 2 people for several days.