My watermelon vine yielded a grand total of one tennis-ball-sized watermelon.
I ate it today.
I'm not sure if it was my planting method (my mother informed me that melons should be planted into a dirt mound shortly after I seeded my flat garden bed - whoops!) or something about the space (not enough sun?) that the watermelon didn't like. Blossoms would come but then go away. With the exception of the one that decided it would grow into a fruit.
I might have left the vine another couple of weeks with continued hope that the heat wave we've had lately might inspire it to produce more, but fall plant starts caught my eye at the farmers' market this morning. I ripped out the watermelon vine this morning, harvesting the single fruit, to make space for my 6 new broccoli starts.
It will be "Di Cicco", an Italian broccoli variety that is apparently prized for its "cut and come again side shoots". According to the woman at the farmers' market, I should be able to report back on whether I find this prize worthy in approximately 48 days. In the meantime, I will continue to enjoy the tomatoes and carrots that the garden is producing and ponder what else I may plant for fall.
