How can you tell when a watermelon is ripe and ready to be picked? I know w/ our cantalope, if it comes off the vine with a gentle tug, it's ready (and if there's no green showing)....
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Get involved in animal rescue. You won't be sorry. Your heart may break, there may be times when your eyes are red-rimmed for days. You may lose faith in the goodness of people, but your spirit will be renewed by the resilience of those you save. It isn't easy, but it's worth it. I promise you, you will be forever changed.
OK, there are a lot of different opinions on this, but after growing mellons for a few years we have found if we wait till all the vines are dead, completely dead, then the mellons are ready. This year we waited a week past when the vines withered and it was a week late. One mellon was a bit over ripe. Last year we went by the "white underbelly and hollow sound when thumped" theory and ended up picking two or three way underripe mellons. One had a white underbelly and dead stem (not vine, but just the stem right at the mellon) and thumped well, but was still white inside!
Have fun picking and eating your mellons
BTW: Co-operative extensions in each state are great resources for gardening or landscaping tips. They are paid for with tax money, so you don't have to pay them for their great advice. Ours here provides one free dirt sample reading (just mail a small box of dirt to them and they tell you what your dirt is made of and what it needs to grow grass or veggies or plants, etc. They even provide the box and postage). We just email our co-operative extention and they email us back with wonderful advice. They also give free gardening, canning and landscaping seminars at local libraries.
and I asked our local co-op about cantalope when I saw them at the fair...I just neglected to ask about watermelon!
Thanks!!
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Please check out my blog and tell me what you think! To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Get involved in animal rescue. You won't be sorry. Your heart may break, there may be times when your eyes are red-rimmed for days. You may lose faith in the goodness of people, but your spirit will be renewed by the resilience of those you save. It isn't easy, but it's worth it. I promise you, you will be forever changed.
Gardening question 
