Monday, September 2, 2013

How to Determine When Watermelons Are Ripe






Oh so sweet!  I harvested my Sugar Baby watermelons, and they are delicious.  Sorry I only put in one plant this year. Next year, 2 - 3 plants will find their way into the garden.  They're the perfect size to place in the fridge and just enough to share.   Last year I picked them too soon.  I learned to check the bottom to determine if they're ripe. If the bottom has a cream/yellowish spot, they're ready to harvest.   

My garden is coming to a close.  I pulled the green beans, cucumbers and squash plants.  I still have lots of tomatoes that need to ripen.  My peppers didn't do well this year.  I'll manage to harvest enough to place in the freezer for chili and salsa, but no pickled peppers this season. 

My lessons learned: 

1)  Read the labels.  I planted bush beans instead of pole beans around my tee pee trellis.  In spite of that mistake, they produced well and I was able to harvest several gallons for the freezer.   

2)  Build a bigger trellis for my squash and zucchini plants. 

3)  Plant garlic in the fall.  My attempt at growing during the spring was a total failure.  I didn't harvest 1 garlic bulb.  

4)  Don't start my seeds indoors too early.   I lost quite a few plants because I started my seeds to soon and was unable to transplant. 

How did your garden do this season and what lessons did you learn for next season?