Winding Down

A few weeks ago — Friday the 13th, to be exact — I noticed that the most promising gaeguri chamoe had cracked near the stem. In a mild panic, I clipped it off and brought it in. Exceeding six inches, it weighed in at one pound, 14.6 ounces. With a little more time, might it have surpassed two pounds? Who knows. The sweetness was starting to kick in, and that nice crunch was still in effect. Perhaps the seeds weren’t optimal for saving, but I did so nonetheless.

A few days ago, I picked a couple more that were suffering from significant cracking and some discoloration. Neither had reached six inches, and were lighter, too, at one pound, 11.4 ounces and one pound, 7.6 ounces. They had more sweetness, but were mealy in consistency; the draw with this melon for me is the crunch, so perhaps I should be aiming for earlier harvests. Saved the seeds for these two as well, but again maybe not the ideal move.

The remaining and still-small chamoe aren’t likely to amount to much with the evening temps starting to dip. The cold is also likely responsible for the roselle starting to die off, and the tomatoes and cucumbers might not hang on that much longer either. It feels late, but I did a cool season sowing yesterday in the new box that Buddhist Church of Oakland ultimately decided it didn’t want. Hopefully this round will do better than the seed tray I started in late August, since that effort didn’t take off.