A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2007 Squash? Melon? This year's bird offering...

A bird must have donated the seed for this. (They do it every year... almost in the same spot!) I haven't figured out yet what the heck it is!


It's got a few somethings growing on it, but it's too early yet to ID!
It might be a squash of some kind, but I wouldn't have a clue if it is... (I don't eat squash, so I don't plant it!)

I raise melons, but it doesn't look like my Cantaloupe or Honeydews, & the leaves are definitely not Watermelon!



Any guesses?

Patty, I would guess a very healthy wild Gourd but I wouldn't have a clue as to which type. Maybe you can tell more from the pics at this website.

Thanks for the link, Rosie. It'd be great if they turn out to be wild gourds! (I won't have to eat them!)

Hopefully it will turn out to be some kind of lucious melon.

My first guess is a Canteloupe...
Or a baby watermelon...

Can I have a better shot of the "over~all" plant?
That may solidify it for me anyways...

That lil baby sure looks like a watermelon variety. Looks healthy!!!

looks like watermelon to me! (lucky) i can never seem to get my watermelons to grow...i dont know why.....

Nope! At least it's not like the watermelon or canteloupe I'm growing in my veggie garden. I just look these pics after dinner...


Watermelon


Canteloupe (Minnesota Midget)

The leaves almost look the same, but they're a different texture, & my canteloupe leaves are more ruffled around the edges. The melons that are starting to form on my caneloupe plants are fuzzy, but the mystery melons didn't start out that way... they looked more like watermelon starts!
(Hmmm... makes me think they might be Honeydew, but I got so many of those last year, I got tired of them & didn't plant any this year!)
Dang me! I KNEW there was something else I was going to take a pic of while I was out there! If I'd have tuned back in here 30 minutes earlier, I'd have had enough daylight left to take a pic of it! First thing in the morning, OK?!
(You should see that puppy now! The pic I started this with was taken on Saturday, & it's now Tuesday... & the "fruit" is twice as big!)

I hope this solidifies something besides mass confusion for you, Weezie! Here's the whole plant (among the Periwinkle, Alyssum saxatile, weeds & grasses, along side the 2 Sunflowers the birds planted).


I don't know about you, but it's hard for me to tell what I'm looking at... & I took the picture! His only comment was, The plant profile says something about the fruit's juice having anti-wrinkle and anti-aging skin properties.
(I hope that's what it is! I could harvest the seeds & be set for life!)

Gotta love them birds!

Last week my daughter borrowed my camera "for about an hour"... I just got it back today! :rolleyes: (But that did give me time to weed around the plant & get the vines untangled from the Perriwinkle!)

Weezie, I think this pic might be a better shot of the "over~all" plant...


Whatever it is, is sure growing fast, but I'm still not sure what it is!
(It's looking less & less like squash every day.)

Oh! About the racks... I have this thing about "food on the ground"!

** The shelves & racks also help keep slugs, snails & sow bugs off the fruit.

To me, it looks like some kind of Melon...

*I have some squashes, and the leaves just don't
look like that*

*and I have some watermelon, and the leaves just don't look like that either*

I'd say the cantaloupe.
But for the life of me, I can't remember what the fruit look like..
*I grew some for the first time last year,
but thought I didn't get any, cause there was so much leaves, and when I finnnallllly hunted for some, they were already that tan color....*

Keep us posted...

Perhaps a new hybrid of Muskmelon called NET MELON, ::: net melon, netted melon, nutmeg melon - the fruit of a variety of muskmelon vine; a melon with netlike markings and deep green flesh.

Pictures at:
Net Melon

Boy, did these puppies ever grow fast!! Now I just need to figure out when it's ready... I think I saw another thread somewhere, that has some tips about that.

They loook like cantaloupe??? I have mystery vines at the edge of my compost and on one side of my veg garden. Chipmunks bury them deep in the fall so they dont get mushy over winter then ta-da early plants. My chipmunk & bird planted sunflowers are waaaaay ahead of the ones I planted this spring. Hmmm maybe I should plant everything late fall or way to early in the spring since chippys garden seems to do better than mine!

Here's the link for Net Melon:

http://members.tripod.com/takamas/bn12frommy.htm

I'm seriously thinking about trying that, Wrennie! Maybe Mother Nature's helpers are trying to tell us that we've been doing it all wrong... <i>for centuries!

i would guess cantaloupe also. i have a couple growing in my garden and it looks close. but i'll double check the leaves in the a.m. i like the wire selves under your mellons, good idea, i'll try it next year.
mlowe

Friends & neighbors, the verdict is in!

The fruit looked more & more like canteloupe every day...


And then it REALLY looked like canteloupe when it was cut open...


The confirming identification was determined through taste testing by an expert...

This 21 year old cat, who has loved canteloupe since she was a tiny kitten, has turned her nose up at everything set before her, for a whole week! (And, was hospitalized earlier this week for dehydration!)

Three days after returning home (agreeing only to eat 1/3 can of Friskies beef in gravy on the first day... & refusing "real" tuna, 4 flavors of cat food & "real" gravy since then), she was offered a dish of the fruit from this mystery melon.... & dove right into it "like a starving animal!

If it weren't a genuine Canteloupe, I can guarantee that this would never have happened! (She doesn't like ANY other fruit!)

(And, she had seconds!)

Good lucking Cantalopes, Patty...so glad that mystery got solved. Love the pix of your kitty having her special snack. I wonder if she would like Watermelon? Both would be good fluid sources for her.

My last cat, Pooh, lived to be 23yrs of age and loved most veggies and some fruits. When she was feeling poorly, about the only thing I could get her to eat was scrambled eggs.

Wow nice melons!
My first mystery vine turned out to be a gourd from last falls decorations. I have 2 {i think} pumpkins behind my garage growing from the compost area.

yup I think I'll go out during the january thaw to plant this year

Yep, those are canteloupes!!
**I got a bunch of volunteer plants this year..**
I two medium sized one's..
We'll see if the woodchuck gets those two too!!

Looks good Patty...
And so does that kitty~kat eatin'...
Poor wee~cat..
I hope she's feeling well soon!

Rosie, I hadn't thought about scrambled eggs... I'll see what the Hairball Queen thinks about that! She's never liked any other fruit besides canteloupe, but I do have a little watermelon in the frige, & I'll see if maybe her taste has changed. (It's worth a try, because she used to like tuna & the malt-flavored hairball medicine, but is turning her nose up at EVERYTHING these days!)

By the way (back to the canteloupe topic), the fruit started forming on the vine just before the end of July, & I thought it should be ripe by now, but when I picked this canteloupe the other day, it apparently needed more time, cuz the "meat" is pretty "firm" & crunchy yet, & doesn't have a very strong flavor!

Also, it sort of looks to me like there's a lot more "whitish" meat next to the rind than there should be... any opinions about that?

Patty, try picking it and letting it sit on the shelf for a couple days.

I know October is when cantaloupe is "in season"!