Cantaloupes and Tomatoes

Every day I've been picking up the oldest cantaloupe hoping it would slip off the stem.  Tonight when I got home, it was sitting there off it's vine, and the next one in line slipped when I picked it up.  The variety is Burpee's Sweet N' Early.  The fruit are supposed to be 6 pounds.   Mmmmm... not so much.  Mine are a pound and a half.  They claim that each vine bears 6-8 fruit.  Again... an over estimation.  I planted 16 plants and I have 30 melons.  That's two per vine.  But that's where my complaint ends.  The vines are vigorous.  No signs of mildew.  The melons are very sweet and flavorful. I haven't tasted a vine ripened cantaloupe since my grandfather in Kentucky used to grow them and the store bought ones just can't compare. So was the size due to the lousy weather or something to do with my soil?  Whatever it was I'd say this was a good starting point.

Other firsts this past week.  First (finally) ripe tomato was the Blue Beauty.  It's a really good tomato!  I'm so glad that such a cool looking and fun to grow tomato is also tasty and useful.  I will grow it again.  And there are plenty more where that came from.

Also last week was my first ripe eggplant.  Production is low but I am getting one of each of the four varieties I planted so I'm satisfied.  The only way I really like them is fried in oil, so it is wise not to give me too many. Eggplants are such a long hall.  I planted these seeds April 1st, and I knew I wouldn't get one until August.