Melons!

One of my favorite quotes about vegetable gardening is something like, "It's often easier to learn to love what you can grow than it is to grow what you love".

When I think of this quote, melons come to mind.  I loves me a good, sweet honeydew or deep juicy watermelon.  But being coastal here in the Bay Area--and those melons need lots of inland heat--I've been sticking to melons I have a fighting chance with.  And for us in Southern Sonoma County, that's cantaloupe and Crane Melons.

For about 3 years now, I've been growing a variety of cantaloupe the book "Golden Gate Gardening" recommended, which is Sugar Cube.  New to me this year is Crane Melons, which I tried because I live less than 4 miles from the Crane Melon Barn.  So that seemed an obvious choice. 

And these have not disappointed.  As you can see, they're much smaller than what you find in the store.  But they pack a surprising amount of fruit that is juicy and delicious. 

Unlike the store bought, you don't lose the outside inch to heavy skin and flavorless fruit.  I literally pare these like I would an apple.

Cut them in half, scoop out the seeds, and you get a pretty decent amount of fruit. 

And they beat anything you'd buy at the grocery store.

This was my first time growing and eating Crane Melons.  While larger than my Sugar Cube cantaloupe, mine still ended up smaller than the ones I've seen on line.  But oh, are they juicy.  Not quite as sweet as the cantaloupe, they are still tasty and worth the effort.

So who knows?  Maybe now that I've gained a few years of success with melons, I may scour the internet for a good variety of watermelon to try.  I gave Honeydew a try last year, and was not impressed with the sweetness, and I may find the same fate with watermelon.  If so, that's okay.  I'll be happy with my Cranes and Cantaloupes. 

As the saying goes, learn to love what you can grow!

Happy Gardening!