I am over here in Southeast Montana and have sandy soil that melons love. When I started raising melons in the 1970's, my Burpee Hybrid muskmelons were simply delicious, now I cannot get hardly anything good out of a muskmelon. The exception was the Sunder which was superb, but Willhite quit selling. I can get good-tasting Savors in the early part of the season, but the later ones rot before they taste good. As for watermelons, some do not do well for me (Desert King). I have had only two watermelons that had a "perfume" when eaten. The one I remember the most was a White Seeded Simpson. I used to grow lots of watermelons, did not rotate and eventually my field got too diseased. Now, years later, I start on new ground, till in lots of leaves and I have vines all over the place. I really like the Sweet Favorite. They ripen early (around a month after setting on), and I can turn around and get two crops off the same vine. Some Sweet Favorites do not get the sweetness of the others, I wonder if one should withhold the water for a few weeks before ripening. To tell when a melon is ripe: I used to scratch the melon with the date it set on. For example, if a melon set on July 19, I would take a knife or nail and scratch "J19 on the skin and the resulting scar would remain. Then, since it takes six weeks for most watermelons to ripen, I would harvest the melon six weeks later (September 1st for the above J19 melon. Now, I think I will take an ear tag (that they use in a calf's ear), and if a watermelon sets on July 19 th, write that on the ear tag and set it beside the melon. I actually would go out July 23 d, see a watermelon the size of a chicken egg, and subtract a few days and write J19 on the tag. But I do agree that the Orange Glo is a very delicious watermelon. And it has a taste that is more than sweet. This year my Orange Glos tailed off in sweetness at the end of the season. I tried the Moon and Stars a few years ago and was impressed with their earliness. But I ran into problems this past year as I picked the first ones too early. I think that in excellent soil, they ripen later than if they are on just average soil. And they do taste very good. This year, I will plant around 50% Sweet Favorite and 50% Moon and Stars. With a few new ones. I finally found a source for the Tiger Baby (Anderson Seed and Garden Logan Utah.) The Tiger Baby is a small melon, short vines and ripens in 30 days from setting on for me. The flesh is only pink, but I am going to try plastic tunnels, underground heating to try and get very early melons. I like to take a heat lamp (put in a 100 watt bulb), and set it next to the watermelon plants in the plastic hot kap for overnight heating of the soil (heat lamp is face down on the dirt). Sometimes the bulb breaks due to moisture on the bulb. But the plants really thrive and grow fast if it is 100 degrees in the hot kap at night. I like the Tiger Baby's short vines because I have to cover all my watermelons with wire with small holes due to the hail we seem to get every year. Is that called hardware cloth?

I think that was the coldest and wettest swap I've ever attended -- but it was as much fun as any I've been to! Big ups to the organizers -- excellent job! I think the "side trades" table was particularly inspired -- it saved a lot of time running around looking for a lot of people you'd never actually met, while still giving you the *option* of running around and looking for people if you wanted to! Wonderful plants, wonderful people, and would whoever made that lovely red apple dish give me the recipe? If you didn't get any, they were thick apple rings, maybe 1/2 or so; bright red, and sweet. But not sticky, syrupy sweet, just straight up apple taste. I thought they were going to be the standard 'apples in syrup with cinnamon red hots' but they were fantastic! Thanks all for a lovely time - now, who's going to plant these things for me?

Brandy girl, you are enabling! Another wow plant! It's beautiful, what a great choice. I don't have that one...I think I'll read up on it. :-) By the way, I have an idea for adding another row/ledge to the outside of the front of your patio...the same length as your patio. A piece of 2 x 10 that can be hinged or screwed to the posts. Would they allow that if you wanted to do that? Or would that interfere with free space for parking? Home Depot will cut size to fit and help you with hardware. All you need is the inclination and a neighbour's power tool. You know you'll need more space, right? Lol Jo

It should be cool by then. lol Are you going to start a have and wanted list for the swap, Sylvia? I'd like to start potting things that I know someone wants. I dug up a couple of vitex seedlings the other day.