Watermelon Time

[Bird]

94 degrees again today; hate hot weather. But there are a few bright spots. Had the first cold, sweet, juicy, yellow meated watermelon from my little patch today. In fact, I think I'll just go eat another plate full./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Bird

 

[Kevin_mc]

Bird - how about a few blackberries to go with that watermelon. Picked about 2 quarts today. We're having the hot/humid weather also.

I've never had yellow meated watermelon. What's it like? How big do they get? Many seeds?

Kevin

 

[jyoutz]

Bird, for the first time I planted some yellow watermelon this year-variety called desert gold. I don't know how they'll work out. Right now my melons are golf ball sized. They never ripen at my location until mid-Sept.

 

[Bird]

Kevin, when we were traveling all the time, we picked blackberries and made jelly in Oregon in August one year, but my blackberries are usually through for the year about mid-June. My little patch produces about 50 quarts a year, but this year the grasshoppers were so bad that I think my wife only put up about 20 quarts before I mowed the vines down in early June.

There are a lot of varieties and sizes of yellow meated watermelons, just as there are with the red ones. I've just always been partial to the yellow; maybe my imagination, but they just seem a little sweeter and better flavor. The seeds are similar to the red ones, except red watermelons usually have black seed and the yellow ones have brown with just a black tip. I like to try different things, just to see what they do, so this year I planted "TS" seeds and the watermelon I was eating yesterday was about 20" long, maybe half as wide, but I didn't weigh it.

Bird

 

[Kevin_mc]

Thanks Bird - I'll keep those watermelon in mind when we prepare the garden seed list on New Years Eve.
Kevin

 

[RobertN]

My favorite is taking those blackberries and making homemade icecream! I have a good no-cook recipe that is really good. On our old property, we used to pick those berries fresh and whip up a batch. Good eating!

RobertN in Shingle Springs Calif

 

[Bird]

We haven't made homemade ice cream in several years now (got lazy I guess), but I do occasionally make myself a blackberry milkshake, and like them in a bowl of cereal and cobblers, plus the fact that the blackberry jelly is my favorite jelly. I just don't like pickin'em./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Bird

 

[W5FL]

Bird, I have many beautiful cantalopes coming on now. I didn't even try watermellons this year. I cannot see for the life of me why cantalopes would do so well and watermellons don't. There must be a secret ingredient and I haven't found it yet.

 

[Kevin_mc]

RobertN - Would you consider posting the recipe for that blackberry ice cream. You just made it sound too good and we still have a lot more berries to pick.

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[Bird]

Wen, I'm afraid I don't know the secret to raising watermelons either. Some years I have good ones, some years (like last year), nothing worth eating. Of course, I figured part of my problem might be trying different types of seed to see what they do, instead of staying with what's been good in the past, and then I read a couple of years ago about watermelon farmers being concerned because of too much rain; said too much water keeps them from being sweet enough. I watered less this year than I ever have, and have good melons. However, while the cantaloupe taste good, they're not only an odd color, but medium to very small sizes this year.

Bird

 

[W5FL]

Bird,

My dad told me that my grandfather used to dig a series of holes 1 ft sq and 1 ft deep and filled them with manure in the fall. Marked each one with a stick, and then planted a hill of water mellon seeds at that location each spring. Worked for him, but haven't tried it yet. Nothing else seems to work, so why not?

 

[Bird]

Wen, that sounds like a good idea.

Bird

 

[RobertN]

Sure! I have it at home; I'll get it out and post it this evening...

RobertN in Shingle Springs Calif

 

[RobertN]

Re: Ice Cream

I rummaged through recipes last nite. This is the recipe I have been using for the last ten years. It is very simple, and no-cook. We have used this Vanilla "base" for numerous flavored ice creams.

I use this recipe in a 5 quart machine. You may need to cut it down for smaller machines.

4 Eggs - beat until foamy
2 1/2 cups sugar - add to beaten eggs slowly, beat until thickened. Slow Mixer
Add 4 Cups Whipping Cream
2 tablespoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
Mix thoroughly, but do not whip

Pour into ice cream maker can. add milk to fill line, unless you are adding fruit ( add fruit now)

about 30 minutes to ice Cream!!

Hints:
1)When using fresh fruit, I cut the sugar by half. If it is a real sweet fruit, I leave the sugar out completely
2)I add the fruit at the beginning. When I do, I make sure it is mashed or pureed, since large chunks will clog the paddle. If you want large fruit chunks, add them at the end.
3)I use heavy cream. Makes it thick and rich!
4)We add fruit to taste; about 2-3 cups for 5qt machine
5)I run this in the machine for 30 minutes at least


RobertN in Shingle Springs Calif