Post by Yoris on Jul 21, 2018 1:18:43 GMT -7
So, on Friday, I noticed some more that the fruits on the watermelons just weren't growing very much, and a lot of them weren't properly pollinated. I figured it was the heat compounded by the black plastic. So, I figured I'd just harvest them all, eat them somehow, and let them grow new ones (my hope is that picking them will encourage them to grow new ones faster the same way as it helps okra, some peppers, and such). We'll see if that works out. At first, I was reluctant to do this, since I thought they might grow significantly still, but upon further inspection, they seemed pretty close to their final size. Some of them were even ripening! Yes, some had flesh turning red inside, and one had seeds turning brown (I ate at least the first one of those, and it was sweet). July 21st is pretty early for ripening watermelons. Something's off here. In 2015, I grew watermelons with black plastic and didn't have these problems (well, we still got small fruit, but the plants didn't look so impacted by the heat), and it was a hot year. I think there's something different about the sunlight. It's probably because the year started out so cool (actually warm, but cool for here), and now it's suddenly hot. So, the plants are probably reacclimatizing or something.
Anyway, I got about a gallon of blended up watermelon (I also blended up some [HASH]okra and a Noir De Carmes [HASH]melon which had begun ripening at an small stage, too, into it; it was turning [HASH]orange, but it mostly tasted like a [HASH]cucumber). I decided I wanted it to taste good—so, I flavored the first batch with fruit punch Gatorade (it actually did taste pretty good). For the second blender full of [HASH]unripe watermelon (just watermelon), I added [HASH]carob powder, fruit punch Gatorade, and sage. It was pretty good, but I put it in the refrigerator since I had plenty of the other stuff already. I wonder what people think it is.
Anyway, [HASH]carob, powdered fruit drinks, and things like sage can make a [HASH]smoothie more interesting (although I used them together, I'm not necessarily meaning they should always be used together when used).
[HASH]muskmelon [HASH]firstwave