Make Room for ‘Moon and Stars’ and ‘Golden Midget’ Watermelon

These are the two heirloom watermelons in my garden this year.

It ’s at long last the growing calendar month I ’ve been waiting for ( Juneis always the calendar month I ’m waiting for ) ; my watermelon seedling have made their appearance ! This year I decide that I would only have room for two melon varieties , so I opt a duad of heirlooms . Heirlooms always call to me because not only are they full-bodied nutrition and full of feeling , but they often add up with a delicious heritage .

‘Moon and Stars’ Watermelon

The Amish ‘ Moon and Stars’watermelonis just such a variety . Not only does the large melon vine have super - sweet shape , but it ’s also quite a looker if you require me . The skin of Moon and Stars is a dark green with flecks of yellow splash all over the rind . Even the leave have the theme song speckles . These are the “ stars ” on the melon . Among the stars , is a silver one dollar bill - sized , full , yellow “ moon ” . The flesh can be pinkish - red , yellow , or red ( depend on the multifariousness ) and very sweet . It ’s also a gravid size for summertime picnicking – these bad male child can grow to over 40 pounds !

Although Moon and Stars was often seen in seed catalog in the 1920 ’s , apparently while everyone ’s head was turned , this wonderful variety eventually disappeared . In the mid-1970s , Kent Whealy of the Seeds Saver ’s Exchange went looking for the watermelon that had been around since before 1900 . While Kent was on a tv set show in 1980 , he mentioned the fact that he was searching for this heirloom melon vine . Smart man .

Yeah for Seed Savers!

A farmer that lived near Macon , Missouri , Merle van Doren , saw the show and gave Kent a call . He differentiate Kent that he was , indeed , still growing the elusive variety to that solar day . Mr. Van Doren gave Kent Whealy some seeded player from his melon and a delineation was taken of Kent standing in front of the beautiful yield . This was to be the picture featured in Mother Earth News in January of 1982 and the Benjamin Rush was on – everyone had to have this melon in their own garden .

You may arrive across Moon and Stars under other names such as Pink Flesh Amish Moon and Stars , Van Doren ’s Moon and Stars , Cherokee Moon and Stars , Long Milky Way Moon and Stars , and Yellow Flesh Moon and Stars . Just to add to the confusion , some of these are have a magnetic declination of the name because they are a different form of the original , and some provide no deviation at all . Just go with it – it ’s all part of the heirloom fun .

‘Golden Midget’ Watermelon

Admittedly , Golden Midget ’s menial beginnings do n’t compare to Moon and Star ’s claim to fame . But they ’re just as endearing and delicious . This fancy small melon was engender by Elwyn Meader and Albert Yeager by originally crossing ‘ Pumpkin Rind ’ and ‘ New Hampshire Midget ’ . They introduced Golden Midget in 1959 . This is a gorgeous , 3 pound melon that ’s ready to harvest in a brusk 70 days . It ’s so early ripen that Golden Midget is one melon that ’s an excellent campaigner for succession planting .

The skin is a warm , fortunate - sensationalistic coloration when it ’s fully ripe . The Salmon River - pinkish flesh makes an awful storybook contrast to the rind . Golden Midget has a refreshingly sweet tone . By the way , because it has unretentive , compact vine , it ’s the consummate variety for a terrace garden and my suburban farm .

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