Amazing garden surprise!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

This afternoon I was outside cleaning up a big pile of dead tomato and squash vines (it's been below freezing the last couple of nights), and a found a surprise. Some of you may recall my adventures with squash, and how a single acaorn squash vine devoured my garden and produced a ridiculous number of squash, to the detriment of everything else within a 12-foot radius. I am still eating those squash.

Anyhow, at the same time I planted the squash, I also planted a cantaloupe, which I pretty much forgot about after the squash assumed horror-movie proportions. Anyhow, it was a cool summer, not the best for growing cantaloupe. It produced a few blossoms and disappeared under the squash and tomato vines.

But today, while clearing out the dead vegetation, I discovered a single cantaloupe. It wasn't very big, but it looked ripe, so I cut it open, expecting it to be green, or dried up, or otherwise defective. But it wasn't.

Instead, it was ripe and juicy and sweet -- the best cantaloupe I've ever tasted. I devoured half of it on the spot. Here it is:



Isn't nature wonderful?

[KatyaR]

1. I wonder if the sweetness was because of the cold weather?

Kinda like ice wine, where they leave the fruit on the vines in the cold weather? It's said to sweeten the fruit.

That was a very nice end-of-season surprise!

[cwydro]

2. I've grown a bunch down here, but

hell EVERYTHING grows here!

What a nice surprise for you and yes, they are sooo delicious right off the vine.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. My dear Velveteen Ocelot!

What a delicious surprise! And that picture just makes my mouth water...

You might try a little vanilla ice cream in that other half...

Just sayin'!

Enjoy!

:9

:hi:

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. I do happen to have some vanilla ice cream...

Thanks for the suggestion. Mmmmmm...

[Ptah]

5. That's beautiful

yum

:thumbsup:

[hippywife]

6. Congratulations!

We had a few of those surprises this year, too, until a critter got into the garden and got them before we did.

I'm glad you explained that you'd been eating on that half on the left. I was beginning to think that you'd cleaned it out that far in. :rofl:

[AsahinaKimi]

7. I am eating a cantaloupe now ...

this very minute with Whipped cream.

[femmocrat]

8. Lucky you!

I didn't get one cantaloupe or watermelon this year, although I planted about a dozen of each. We did find a motley pumpkin in the high grass, though. That was nice!

Looks delish! :hi: