# Happy tonight



## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

I planted just under 800' of Hickory King White Dent corn today. I haven't planted it in a few years, and have use of a friend's land. I finished at around 2pm. Since around 7pm tropical storm Bonny has been giving us a rain so soft it is almost fog. I can hardly keep from grinning.


----------



## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

I've also got around 40 watermelons taking off. They're also an heritage variety, Bradford. My first year of getting seeds for them and they're looking very good. I'll have seeds for next season so, better get dibs.  if I love ya, you know it. These are new to the market. I think there were a few seeds last year. It is a variety thought lost, but turns out it ain't. Last commercial crop was almost 100 years ago. I can't wait to bust one open.


----------



## COSunflower (Dec 4, 2006)

I bought some Sugar Baby watermelon seeds and Midget cantaloupe seeds this year to try in my small garden. They have all germinated quickly but its too soon to put them out here. I'll wait a couple weeks to transplant them outdoors. Good luck Vicker with yours! I'll be anxious to see a picture!!!


----------



## CajunSunshine (Apr 24, 2007)

THE Bradford?? How cool is that?!

For the uninformed..._this_ cool: http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt...-sweetest-watermelon-the-south-has-ever-known

Interesting story behind this heirloom! 

Vicker, I wish you the best success! (And here's hoping there are no other watermelons are growing within a mile of your patch, so you can continue this tasty tradition without interference from cross pollination.

I would love to grow some!! "The sweetest watermelon the South has ever known," indeed!


.


----------



## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

I'm way out. My buddy wanted to plant some Charleston Grays, but those seeds are in the freezer till some other time.


----------



## Raeven (Oct 11, 2011)

It's one of life's wonderful feelings, getting the garden in, isn't it? So much to look forward to -- I hope your melons do splendidly for you!! Maybe you'll share some pics...?  I can't grow 'em, but I can drool over 'em!


----------



## CajunSunshine (Apr 24, 2007)

I would love to buy some seeds from you!

You selling any?


.


----------



## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

I'm really excited about the watermelons. They're almost a month old now and are really starting to take off. I heard about them last year and got my hands on 56 seeds last winter. I can't imagine how they must taste. I have a still too and may make some brandy. Mostly, I want to pass seeds. I'll keep y'all posted.


----------



## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

CajunSunshine said:


> I would love to buy some seeds from you!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



You're gonna have to make me some jam, or something.


----------



## CajunSunshine (Apr 24, 2007)

Got your PM, and got so excited about getting these seeds that I hit "send" on a blank PM before typing a single word. Finally composed myself and sent another with my address... let me know if I goofed that one too.

(sheesh...it don't take much to get me going.)


Thanks bunches, Vicker!


.


----------



## CajunSunshine (Apr 24, 2007)

This watermelon is reputed to have a brix content out of this world, so it is begging to be made into wine. I will send you some!



.


----------



## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

It's got a great story behind it. I can just imagine how wonderful the piece tasted in the bottom of a prison ship.  and, watermelon is already angel food to start with.


----------



## Twp.Tom (Dec 29, 2010)

Good luck on the garden Vicker! http://www.webmd.com/erectile-dysfunction/news/20080701/watermelon-a-natural-viagra

Watermelon is good for You too!


----------



## Clem (Apr 12, 2016)

Those watermelons sound so good, I looked them up to order some seeds. $10 a dozen!! Oh well...

When I was a child in SC, we had a well on the back porch. I sort of think people dug the well, then built a house, because I saw the well on the back porch an awful lot. Grandpa would wipe a watermelon clean, hog-tie it, and let it down in the well one afternoon to eat the next. My cousin and I tried that ourselves one day, but when we pulled up the rope, there was no watermelon. The well was probably 10 ft or so down, but we couldn't see anything in there. We decided that the best course of action was to keep it to ourselves. Never knew if it was in the well, or grandpa came home, saw it, and pulled it up to mess with us. 

Good memories. Thanks, Vicker, for activating my memory gear.


----------



## Tommyice (Dec 5, 2010)

Vicker that some awesomeness right there. I can't remember the last time I had watermelon that actually had seeds in it. I would love to be able to grow melons, but I've not got the room. Poor me.


----------



## WolfWalksSoftly (Aug 13, 2004)

Watermelon Wine,that takes how long? Just pull a hole,fill that sucker with Grain,plug the hole, chill and enjoy...But to be honest, I have had neither.


----------



## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

I'll know more of what I have in a couple of months. 
This rain man, it fell soft as cotton well into this afternoon, then a little harder for an hour if two. I took off work a couple of hours early. I needed to sit with my corn.


----------



## quadrants2 (Apr 2, 2005)

vicker said:


> I've also got around 40 watermelons taking off. They're also an heritage variety, Bradford. My first year of getting seeds for them and they're looking very good. I'll have seeds for next season so, better get dibs.  if I love ya, you know it. These are new to the market. I think there were a few seeds last year. It is a variety thought lost, but turns out it ain't. Last commercial crop was almost 100 years ago. I can't wait to bust one open.


Very cool Vicker! Best of luck..look forward to updates.


----------



## RideBarefoot (Jun 29, 2008)

oooh, please put me on the list for seeds!


----------



## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

I will definitely keep y'all updated, and should have seeds to share this fall. I will gladly share them but, if you don't live in a zone suitable for long growing melons, please don't cause me to waist my time and seeds. 
Clem, I'll send you some too. 
Y'all should think of something to send me in return. It wouldn't have to be of any monetary value. It'd just be fun for me.  no dirty underwear though.


----------



## WolfWalksSoftly (Aug 13, 2004)

I haven't checked your storm situation in a while..be safe.


----------



## RideBarefoot (Jun 29, 2008)

vicker said:


> I will definitely keep y'all updated, and should have seeds to share this fall. I will gladly share them but, if you don't live in a zone suitable for long growing melons, please don't cause me to waist my time and seeds.
> Clem, I'll send you some too.
> Y'all should think of something to send me in return. It wouldn't have to be of any monetary value. It'd just be fun for me.  no dirty underwear though.


Will clean underwear work? (Sorry, after 3 beers the snark factor kicked in!)


----------



## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

Heck yeah! I wear medium.


----------



## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

WolfWalksSoftly said:


> I haven't checked your storm situation in a while..be safe.



We had some medium wind today, but mostly just that long, slow rain. My kinda weather.


----------



## CajunSunshine (Apr 24, 2007)

Howzit going in the watermelon patch, Vicker?

Looking forward to reading the taste review/report (and of course, hopefully seeds in the fall)!



.


----------



## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

Man, I planted almost 1000 ft of field corn and the squirrels got all but 200 ft. The deer are every bit of 299 ft of okra, all the tomatoes and all the peepers. Yellow and zucchini squash are doing well and the watermelons are looking very fine. Already 20-30 melons on the vines. They're looking good.
It's a new garden spot. The nut sedge is epidemic. We'll have to put up a fence this winter and kill the nut sedge over winter.


----------



## FarmboyBill (Aug 19, 2005)

Vic, is that a 1000ft square?


----------



## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

No Bill, foot of rows. I'm craving squirrel stew.  it was all up about 3 inches high. A couple of tree rats went down the rows, bug up and ate the goody, and left the plant laying in the sun. Just took them a couple of days too. I imagine all my seed is buried in some dank, dark place now. I bet them cheeks looked like one of them Kardashian gals backside. Well, except for that pointy nose sticking out the middle, and the eyes.


----------



## FarmboyBill (Aug 19, 2005)

LOL lol. How many 1000 ft rows did you have? What are you going to do about that next year, sides having alotta fat squirrel stew? lol


----------



## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

I had 6x100' rows and 8x50' rows. I now have 4x50' rows. They'll make and I'll about get my seeds back. Maybe I can make a tortilla or two.


----------



## WoodsDweller (Jun 15, 2016)

vicker said:


> I had 6x100' rows and 8x50' rows. I now have 4x50' rows. They'll make and I'll about get my seeds back. Maybe I can make a tortilla or two.



You kill those squirrels?


----------



## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

Na, but I can't say I ain't lusting after them. It's kinda funny, but it ain't. Maybe this fall.


----------



## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

I bought new certified seeds to start again, as my old seeds were dead. Waited too long. They weren't cheap. Then, that's real life. I'll get my seeds and do better nest year. I had hoped to do way better next year. It's good corn.


----------



## FarmboyBill (Aug 19, 2005)

Falls a better time isn't it. They get something like warbles in them if killed at the wrong time, whenever that is.


----------



## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

It's a bot fly larvae. You just cut it out and eat them anyway but, it's to dang hot to go out there. I can't make a dent in the squirrel population out there. If I et the ones that et my corn three more would pop up.


----------



## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

I'll just have to plant in the middle of the field next time. I planted too close to the woods. Once they found them kernels, they just went right down the rows.


----------



## WoodsDweller (Jun 15, 2016)

vicker said:


> Na, but I can't say I ain't lusting after them. It's kinda funny, but it ain't. Maybe this fall.



If they are destroying your crops why not? Lol. I've been killing ***** out here sneaking around my chicken coop all spring and summer. Kill em and put em in the freezer.


----------



## WoodsDweller (Jun 15, 2016)

FarmboyBill said:


> Falls a better time isn't it. They get something like warbles in them if killed at the wrong time, whenever that is.



Season doesn't matter in the southeast. They either have warbles or they don't. If they are damaging my corn they die. Into the freezer they go.


----------



## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

I like spiking a watermelon with PGA and a wire core tap needle and syringe by inserting a needle and pulling the core wire and then insert another needle on the opposite end remove the core wire and start pushing a pint of PGA in a couple ounces a time until watermelon juice squirts out the first needle.

Then the melon goes in the fridge to chill, be turned occasionally to mix and later during the party we cut it as a 80 to 90 proof watermelon Kickapoo Joy Juice drink in the rind. :buds:


----------



## FarmboyBill (Aug 19, 2005)

When I had chickens, Id trap 2 doz possums to a **** at least.


----------



## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

The correct way to spike a melon is through the vine. Let it drink for a few days.


----------



## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

I had one of the melons today. It was pretty good, but a week or two early.  gonna have plenty of seeds. I got my investment back twice in that one melon. I picked it because, it looked close and had blossom end rot. It was sweet and delicious but, not quite there yet.


----------



## CajunSunshine (Apr 24, 2007)

If it were my watermelon patch, I would be saving seeds from the sweetest melons, year after year...  

I plan on making this my lifelong gardening project. I can hardly wait to get started! 





.


----------



## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

Aight  last weekend I picked most of the melons. Deer got half of them. Ha! 

I'm thinking of a squirrel stuffed **** stuck in a deer for thanksgiving  

The melons I picked were ripe and good! They are soft. One busted in my hands when I picked it. They are solid green, with a few white specks and flashes, lighter than a Moon and Stars. The rind is very thick, but soft, 1 inch or more and, a good part of the rind is as sweet as most modern water melons. I'm sold. 

Here is the deal. I have a bunch of seeds. I'll give away up to one half of them. PM me and I'll do my best to get them to you.


----------



## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

Not a real good picture but, this is my 3rd best one. See that crack? It, like several busted as I gently set them down. One cracked when I lifted it from the ground. So, we know why they didn't ship well.  

They eat well, though. 

I was going to mail some seeds out yesterday. Seeds from the one best melon. I've already got them packaged. Then, I picked a few more good ones today. I'd prefer to send you seeds from the three, instead of just the one. I'll have them dried and ready and shipped by the end if the coming week. I'll pm you to confirm they are in the mail.


----------

