Reflections on the Twelfth Week of Summer - Watermelon Feast

    Gardening at Wells Wood can bring feast or famine. This year we had a feast of watermelons. I hadn't expected any. Spence had grown watermelons for years, but groundhogs devoured immature fruit or frost killed plants before melons ripened.

    What changed? Spence bought seeds for Blacktail Mountain Watermelons, the earliest maturing variety, from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. He also slit holes in black plastic ground cover to set out his hardened off seedlings.

    By the end of July over forty watermelons grew in the patch. To protect the plants from groundhogs, Spence stood on the deck, blasted the air horn, and yelled, “Get out of my garden.”

    Riley, an eight year old visiting during the first weekend of August, wanted to open a watermelon. I doubted the fruit would be ready but cut one for him. No red. No pink. The watermelon was pure white from rind to rind. Riley shrugged his shoulders, flashed me a toothy smile, and carried the two halves to the compost pile.

    Riley didn't ask, but I wanted to know, when would the watermelons be ripe?

    On Mike McGrath's You Bet Your Garden radio show, Mike advised referring to the seed package for days to maturity. Spence checked when he planted the seedlings in the garden, referred to the seed catalog for maturation time, then added seventy days to get an estimated date of September 2.

    Groundhogs didn't wait. As if checking for ripeness, they gnawed grooves and holes into the rinds. During the last week of August, a groundhog took a half cup size bite out of one and exposed pink. I cut around the groundhog's teeth marks and tested the fruit. Red, juicy, and sweet with multiple times more flavor than grocery store watermelons.

    Without using a groundhog tester, I picked several immature watermelons to discover the round, eight-to-ten pound fruits with a yellow spot on the dark green rind were ripe.

    Though critter bites caused a dozen watermelons to rot, we harvested about thirty. I enjoyed them for dessert, served them to guests, and gave watermelons to friends and family. At the beginning of the week, I still had a bushel of watermelons.

    Saturday afternoon I tied an apron over my white slacks and cut open melons. I dug out seeds and cubed the flesh. Juice splashed. The blender whirred. I mixed ingredients for Popsicles with added lime and sorbet with added strawberries and minced mint.

    Hours later I tested the treats. Not sweet, the watermelon Popsicle charmed me with its zesty zing. The sorbet had a harmonious sweet blend of watermelon and strawberry with an accent of mint. I didn't mind that mint pieces stuck between my teeth but wasn't pleased that the watermelon juice decorated my pants with red splotches.

    I still have half a bushel basket of watermelons. At Wells Wood this year, it's watermelon feast.