Moon and Star Watermelon is one of my favorite food plants to grow. Not because I have ever been successful with it, cause I haven't - watermelon can be fussy fruits to grow in the smokey mountain climate. According to some old mountain natives though, every 7 years or so growing melons works out awesome and I have a feeling this summer is it! We started out with tons of rain, I planted it in loose fertile soil, and the days have been scalding hot when the sun is up. This plant never seems to droop either, while the other squash leaves will wilt like a lotionless white girl on the beach - the moon and stars watermelon seem to get hardier with the intense heat.
This pic above is the beautiful little lemon yellow flower it makes. The bees come pollinate it and magically you get a watermelon from that (see very top pic with tiny watermelon forming)!
The leaves are a beautiful elongated fig shape with lots of spots and dots on them - those are the "moon and stars" and the watermelon themselves acquire the same pattern on them when mature.
Their stems differ from squash vines (even though grow in a similar shape and style) because they are soft and hairy instead of spiky and kinda painful. The hairs are smooth like the fuzz on milkweed seeds.
XoXo
Moon and Star Watermelon is one of my favorite food plants to grow. Not because I have ever been successful with it, cause I haven't - watermelon can be fussy fruits to grow in the smokey mountain climate. According to some old mountain natives though, every 7 years or so growing melons works out awesome and I have a feeling this summer is it! We started out with tons of rain, I planted it in loose fertile soil, and the days have been scalding hot when the sun is up. This plant never seems to droop either, while the other squash leaves will wilt like a lotionless white girl on the beach - the moon and stars watermelon seem to get hardier with the intense heat.
This pic above is the beautiful little lemon yellow flower it makes. The bees come pollinate it and magically you get a watermelon from that (see very top pic with tiny watermelon forming)!
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