Watermelon

I love watermelon.  It is my very favorite fruit.  I love the ice cold sweetness on a hot summer day.  When I was growing up one of my grandfathers planted a patch of watermelons just for me.  They were called sugar babies.  They are a dark, dark green, almost black and grow to be about the size of a basketball.  I have hunted and hunted my adult life for a sugar baby and was unsuccessful until last summer.

65MD and I had gone to a local farmers' market.  I spotted it from afar.  I excitedly pointed out that there were sugar babies ahead and we had to buy one, no matter what the cost.  As we got closer to the booth we heard the proprietor telling another customer that the watermelons were indeed sugar babies.  I gave 65MD my best "I know everything" look and we bought one for $3.  We considered in an investment since we could use the seeds to plant vines this summer.

As the summer approached and we began to plan our little garden and gather seeds, I reminded 65MD often that we had to leave ample room for the sugar babies.  He was glad to.  There was only one problem.  He couldn't find the seeds.  We scoured the entire house, high & low and could not find those seeds anywhere!  I was disappointed to say the least.  One day as we were buying other seeds, I noticed a package of sugar baby seeds.  We got them. 

It took three tries for us to finally get some vines.  It seems the neighborhood 'wildlife' have learned about the fresh food in our back yard and get a good bit of it.  Finally, finally, the little green balls formed and I waited excitedly for my first homegrown sugar baby since high school.  They never seemed to get much larger than a baseball and then disappear.  There were five small ones the week before my sister came to town with her family and I was so hopeful that one would be ripe so that we could enjoy it while they were here.  Sadly, they never seemed to get any larger.



Again, one by one the little watermelons disappeared.  Over the weekend I went to check on them and there was only one left.  Nearby was a bit of rind where a neighborhood critter had feasted on the mini melons.  There was a bit of red left on the rind, which made me think perhaps that was as large as they were going to get.  I took the little rind to 65MD to get his opinion and he agreed.  We picked the lone remaining watermelon then.


Here is a picture of the whole melon.  That is a peach beside it for perspective.

Since the fast was over, I decided a little watermelon would be in order.  I was quite surprised when I cut it open and found this:

It was a bit overripe, and I was a little disappointed in the taste.  It wasn't so sweet. We'll try again next summer.  We finally found the original seeds.