The temps never got CRAZY hot. The expected 120s never really materialized like they normally would at the beginning of July. I’m hopeful that the rest of the summer won’t be too bad. We are in the thick of monsoon season. A couple of showers here and there but nothing real substantial at our place. The temps are down around 105, with high humidity (it’s not always a dry heat). Not nearly as oppressive as 115. Actually, it’s pretty nice. Night time temps are in the 80s. Wahoo!
It’s that time of year when everything is competing for total domination! Melons are certainly making a fair go at it. Squash are the clear front runners though producing around 30 lbs of yellow squash and zucchini combined a week. Cucumbers are still doing well and producing nicely. Peppers are still small, but producing. Corn is 6+ feet tall, silks are out on lots of the stalks and I’m shaking the tops on a regular basis to make little pollen clouds. It’s still vertical… so it’s still AWESOME!
But this post is about MELONS! Well, melons and TERRIBLE photography. Sorry.
Apple melons are coming in. I like them. The family… not so much. Let me clarify, I love my family, but my family doesn’t love apple melons.
This one is a banana melon that is growing in a tomato cage that is holding up the tomatillos and being invaded by the salad cucumbers. Like I said, the garden is pretty much a jungle.
Green machine.
Charleston Grays… lots of them. 🙂
This one is a desert king and should be ready very soon. Hard to see but I figure it’s in the 10 lbs rang now.
This Charleston Gray was small (6 lb), but really wasn’t growing any more. The tendril had died and it had a light spot. We harvested. Good texture, good flavor, very juicy, but not quite as sweet as I like them. Still a good start. 🙂
This is a very misshapen orange flesh tendersweet watermelon.
Jenny Lind. The color looks terrible in the picture. I have three all together that look very similar. I harvested one this morning. It might be too early so we’ll test this one out and see how it tastes then harvest the others if appropriate.
This orange flesh tendersweet is looking really good. It came out of nowhere, but is fattening up nicely.
I thought this would be the first OTT melon to actually get eaten. As I was watering this morning I smelled cantaloupe, so I checked it. Nope.
This one is looking good too, but it wasn’t him that was smelling.
It was actually this one. Not real big. Actually pretty small, but he had blushed and had a nice aroma. Still pretty firm but we picked. We’ll see how it tastes tonight but I won’t judge the breed by this one if it is bad.
There is more, but I’ve been horrible at taking pictures. With everything going on I’m only semiconscious when I water in the morning. 🙂
I hope you’re having a great summer and enjoying a great harvest!
The Jones Garden Blog 
I am wondering what high humidity is for the desert? Glad your garden is doing so well. I haven’t had time to get one in, but my sister in law overplanted so we are probably going to try and transplant some of their garden into containers here. Wish me luck.
In the mornings were are easily into the 60-80% range. By lunch time today we were still in the mid 40s. Mornings are definitely the most muggy. We are used to single or really low double digit humidity.
Good luck transplanting.
Ah, melons. A labor of love and a test of patience!
This is true. Patience is required, but the result is worth it. Nothing like fresh grown, cold (refrigerated) watermelon. So good!
Honestly – in that heat and humidity I would be moving at the pace of a sloth. And getting nothing done – which is pretty close to this last two weeks with our record breaking temps.
It’s bad, but not nearly as bad as it was this time last year. In the morning it’s hot and muggy, but it doesn’t feel that bad because the sun really isn’t beating you down yet. I try and get everything done in the morning. As we say here in the desert, “you don’t have to shovel heat.” 🙂
this is fabulous. The seeds I planted didn’t germinate. Maybe next year!
Bummer! I am so sorry to hear that.
I’m having a good summer but certainly not enjoying a melon harvest like this. 🙂
This is one of my favorite times of year. I love melons. Our small group enjoyed Old Time Tennessee melon, watermelon, zucchini, and cucumber, with home made ranch dressing for dipping of course. It was thoroughly enjoyed!