When the opossums eat it, in any case.
One in every of many first questions I had this summer season season about my new patch of cantaloupe rising contained in the raised mattress yard was, “How one can inform when cantaloupe is ripe? How are you aware it’s time to choose it??”
The reality is, I searched on-line for the reply. “It’ll odor musky.” Musky? What the heck does that even recommend?
“It’ll separate merely from the vine.” Okay, that is good.
“The webbing will flip into pronounced.” Verify.
I’ve one totally different reply to inform: when the opossums take bites out of it.
Rising Cantaloupe contained in the Yard – Pests
My husband insists that the marks aren’t possum bites. We’ve had possums dig into our fruit earlier than, they usually depart distinctive crescent-shaped chunk marks – and often get hold of piercing the onerous rind. He thinks it was the slugs contained in the raised mattress that took these bites out of the fruit. Whatever the pest that began consuming the melon, I used to be capable of salvage it earlier than they ate by the use of the rind. We cherished it remaining evening. It was heavenly.
How one can Inform When Cantaloupe Is Ripe
First, let’s unpack the recommendation I discovered on-line and the actual fact of inform when cantaloupe is ripe.
- It’ll odor musky: Sure, it actually does. I uncover the odor disagreeable. Ripe cantaloupe exudes a sturdy odor. It’s half melon scent and an nearly sickly candy, rotten odor. I actually really feel that’s what the consultants dubbed “musky.” It undoubtedly has a sturdy odor. I’ve two melons now on the kitchen counter and my complete kitchen smells like ripe cantaloupe.
- It’ll separate merely from the vine: It is a particular constructive. The melons had already separate from the vine and have been fully separated by the aim I discovered them. An extra cantaloupe that I harvested yesterday merely indifferent as quickly as I picked it up, just like the fruit fell from the vine.
- The webbing turns into pronounced: The cantaloupe’s coloration modified from inexperienced to brownish tan to yellow tan in only a few days. It went from the brownish-tan coloration to yellow-tan in two days. We’re experiencing a heatwave now, and I take into consideration that hastened the ripening course of.
Rising Cantaloupe in Containers versus Raised Mattress Gardens
Lastly, one totally different commentary on the excellence between rising cantaloupe in containers versus contained in the raised mattress gardens.
The image beneath shows two melons, each “Ambrosia” varieties began from vegetation bought on the yard coronary coronary heart.
Uncover the excellence? The entire melons I’m harvesting from the container-grown cantaloupes are smaller than the raised mattress melons. The style is equal. I get about twice as many melons from the vegetation grown contained in the raised mattress in fastidiously amended soil. We added not less than 4 inches of mushroom compost this 12 months to the soil, and it has made all the excellence contained in the vigor of the vegetation and the standard of the fruit.
The harvest this 12 months has been ample. We’ve canned over 60 pints of beets, dozens of beet and turnip greens, strawberry jam, and pickled peppers. Subsequent up may be the tomatoes: we’re beginning to reap them day-to-day. We grew quite a lot of beds of Roma tomatoes for sauce making. Our first batches shall be pizza sauce and ketchup, adopted by weekends full of creating no-salt tomato sauce and canning it for the winter.
I like this time of 12 months. The kitchen desk is totally lined with produce harvested from my yard or the farmer’s market. The one exception is a plate of bananas, and if I might develop them at dwelling, I’d. Totally joyful summer season season, cozy gardening, all!
