Don't count your melons before they ripen, but . . .

Well, the slow spring and a series of equipment problems left me a little bummed out about a month or so ago. But we have had heat, rain, heat, rain, since then, which is great for the veggies. And it is getting to be the time of year where everthing is just busting out.

One of the most encouraging developments this year is the melons. We grow a French charentais-type melon that is about the size of a softball and very sweet and tasty. And they are starting to size up already.

Normally, melons are very hard to grow this far north because they like a long, hot, dry season. And frankly, most Vermont summer are not long, hot, nor dry.

Last year was not kind to the melons. There is a fungal disease that often affects melons at the end of the season up here. But last year was so cold and wet the disease emerged mid-season rather than at the end of the year, and we basically lost our whole melon crop. We were all pretty heartbroken.

But this year, the melons are looking good, and we are starting to get cautiously optimistic that we will actually have some to market this year. We shouldn’t count our melons before they ripen (which will (hopefully) be in early-mid August) but it is hard not to get our hopes up at this point.