Saturday 31 December 2011
Every year we've tried watermelons. They're a demanding crop. You need to baby them as they grow. You need to head out every morning and hand pollinate the flowers with tiny paintbrushes - and this has to be done in the morning, so I've been told. You need consistent heat throughout July and August to develop the small watermelons into something sweet and juicy.
Some years we've actually done well. Some years we've produced nothing but round little balls with undeveloped interiors. The bad years occur more often than the good years, too. Of course, it is cool going down in history as the guy who grew watermelon in Galena, and they taste very, very good when they develop properly. When they go the other way, it seems like an enormous waste of time.
Summer 2011
Well, we tried again. And the cool summer produced the worst crop ever. *sigh* I still won't give up, though. When they're good, they're very good.