A lucky melon

Never judge a book by its cover, or in this case, a watermelon by the plant it's growing on. My golden midget watermelon plant was a day or two away from being completely done. Almost every leaf was yellow and half were brown and rotting. The one melon on the plant was only a month old and still had streaks of green in its skin. But the real blow came when I accidentally knocked the melon out of its sling and it ripped the vine holding it on the plant. It was still hanging on but only by a small part of the vine. So I figured it was time to pick this melon to see what it looked like inside.

The description on the seed packet claimed early 3 lb melons and 70 day maturity. My melon weighed just over 3 lbs, was just under 6 inches in diameter, and counting back on the calendar... 70 days seems about right also (I can't recall exactly when I planted this one). Despite the size, I thought this melon was a write-off. But when I cut into into it I was pleasantly surprised. It was juicy and solid. The white on the rind was not overly thick and internally there was lots of symmetry. All the seeds had matured. I counted 38 in just one quarter. Visually it looked like a good melon.

The taste was ok, but not perfect. It certainly had a nice watermelon taste with some sweetness but with another week or two to ripen, and perhaps if the plant had not aborted so early, it would have been sweeter. Still, I have purchased melons from grocers that were no better and even worse. I wish there had been more of these on my plant. A 3 lb watermelon doesn't last long around here.

Dying Golden Midget

I've grown other plants in this spot on the balcony, in this same container with a similar potting soil mix and fertilizers: watermelons, pumpkins, tomatoes... but I've never had one die a death quite like the one this plant is going through. The yellow leaves at the base of the plant, that have been yellow since mid June are finally turning brown and dying off completely. The plant stopped growing a little while ago. The one melon on the plant is not quite 6 inches in diameter and just turning yellow now. Golden Midget watermelons are suppose to turn yellow as they ripen but this one could be turning because the plant is dying. The melon probably needs another month to ripen. But with all the leaves dying I don't think there's much chance of that.

The one nice thing about all this is that the yellow leaves add a bit of colour to the balcony.

Yellow leaves on the Golden Midget

The leaves on my Golden Midget watermelon plant are starting to turn yellow faster now. The oldest leaves are a pure pale yellow and some have started to turn brown and die. The plant puts out a few male flowers every day but very few females. And the female flowers wither and fall before opening. The one melon on the plant is still growing and is now the size of a really large grapefruit. But it hasn't started to turn yellow yet, like it's suppose to.

Golden Midget watermelon plants have been known to turn yellow but I'm not convinced that's what is happening to my plant. I started adding ferts to the water over a week ago. Just general purpose water soluble crystals. But it doesn't appear to be slowing the spread. It almost looks like a spider mite infestation but I can't find any anywhere. It's got to be a nutrient deficiency. Or maybe over-watering. It's in a self watering container and I've never had problems with it before but who knows. Maybe it's getting more water than it wants. I suppose it could also be a virus of some kind but more likely something simple, like a lack of nitrogen. I suspect the plant will be dead before that melon is ready to pick.

First Golden Midget Watermelon

Before leaving on a week long vacation, I pollinated a pair of female flowers on my golden midget watermelon plant. When I came back I found this on the vine: my first watermelon of the season. It's got a way to go but clearly this one has a chance. I need to find something to hold it up on the trellis. The vines of the plant are growing fast now and I've had to pinch off several side shoots, limiting the plant to just three vines. The yellowing in the leaves and vine at the base of the plant is slowly progressing up the plant but it doesn't yet look like it will take over. And no sign of spider mites.

A week without me directly watering everything didn't hurt much. Tomatoes and hot wax peppers are ripening, I've got a plump California wonder pepper to pluck, and the basil is lush and bushy. The celery is progressing but I'm guessing it hasn't been getting enough water and the temperatures this past week have been up into the 90's. I should sample a stock and decide what to do with it.

Golden Midget Watermelon

My golden midget watermelon is growing and putting out flowers. I managed to pollinate a female flower earlier this week and it was starting to point down and form a melon. But it yellowed and died. Just wasn't meant to be. I would like to see the plant grow a little faster. It needs more vine to get up into more sunlight. 

But I'm not convinced this plant will last the entire season. Some of the lower leaves are yellowing and this is very slowly starting to spread. And the plant has been like this since before I transplanted it. If it were just the leaves and perhaps a lack of new growth, I'd assume some kind of nutrient problem. But I've also noticed the vine is turning yellow too and there should have been a good balance of nutrients in the potting soil when I planted it.

Cucumbers and Watermelons

I seeded a few small pots with Talladega Cucumbers and Sugar Baby Watermelons. I usually start these way too early and have to deal with transplanting long skinny vines outside into bigger containers when it's still a little too cold for them thrive. I'll have to remember to do a better job of protecting these from the wind when I finally do get around to planting them out. It's been a while since I've had much luck with cucumbers.