Well, the watermelons and cantaloupes are ripening nicely.
The garlic, pepper and sage tea is working very well. I haven't had any damage at all to the watermelons. I am having an unexpected problem with the cantaloupes however. Box Turtles or as we call them terrapins. The Israeli cantaloupe must be a muskmelon because you can smell it for a 1/4 mile and I'm sure animals can smell it much farther. I can just imagine that delicious scent, then when you get to the source, garlic, pepper and sage. No problem with deer, or crows yet, but Box Turtles have bitten the skin on a few (about a 1/4 inch deep) and if the damaged cantaloupes aren't removed from the field, raccoons will take advantage of the opening and tear into the fruit. So all turtle bitten fruit are being removed daily.
This morning I sprayed with a double strength dose of the tea to see it that will deter the turtles. If I could find them I'd relocate them but they be sneaky little devils.
These watermelons had yellow bellies and dead tendrils next to their stems, but the surest sign of ripeness is alligatored skin. If the skin is still slick and smooth, the melon isn't ripe. Notice the alligatoring in the photos below. You don't even need to see the melon, you can feel when it's ripe.
The Schochler's flesh is a pinkish - red when ripe; different from the red-meated melons people are used to. It is sweet without overpowering the flavor which is excellent. The rind is thick but only a little firmer than the ripened part. The tough skin is only about 1/8 inch thick.
I'm making watermelon rind pickles using several old recipes. Also going to try a recipe for watermelon rind breaded and fried like Okra. I'll post the results along with photos as they occur. Claud
By the way, the garlic, pepper, and sage tea doesn't affect the taste of the watermelon or cantaloupe in any way. heh, heh, Claud
