I had originally been going to post about disappointments in the garden and cantaloupe was going to be the star of the post. I'd Googled "cantaloupe+harvest" to see how you tell when they were ripe. Apparently the stem starts to separate from the fruit - much as a cake will start to separate from the pan when it's baked - but I hadn't seen any of that on my cantaloupes. I did pick one when I started to see a little bit of yellow on the netted skins - but it was only partially ripe and totally tasteless.
Then I noticed that one was starting to rot, so a few days ago, I picked the last 2 cantaloupes and brought them in the house. I'd been going to chuck them, but decided to cut them open first. Surprise! Beautiful, deep orange inside - and deliciously sweet!
Okay, maybe I will grow them again next year - with some changes. I'll start them a bit earlier and coddle them in the potting shed longer. When I plant them out - again in the compost bin - I'll protect the tender stems with water bottle collars. The damage that wood bugs did to the stems this year probably set the plants back quite a bit. And I might grow 3 plants instead of the 2 that I grew this year.
This year's crop was certainly pretty meagre when you consider the time and effort that went into producing 2 small fruits, but they weren't taking up room in the garden, so perhaps they're worth another try.
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