Look at the size of that fruit

Wow, look at the size of this chile! It measures 6" long by 4" wide (15 cm. x 10 cm.) and weighs over a pound (454 grams). This is the part where I'm supposed to tell you what variety it is and what techniques I used to grow such a whopper.... So sorry, in an effort to be an absolutely truthful blogger, I have to tell you that I bought it at the grocery store and it wasn't labeled. I won't think about the amount of chemicals it must have taken to produce this mutant chile.

Man, look at the size of this melon! .... Oh, here we go again .... I really did grow this one, but through the miracle of photography, I have made my 2 1/2" by 3 1/2" (6.5 cm. x 9 cm.), 11 ounce (312 grams), Minnesota Midget melon appear to be a jumbo-size cantaloupe.

The melons have not done well at all (cucumber beetles, squash bugs, mildew, and a neglectful gardener), but I'm going to save seed from this open pollinated variety to see if the next batch will be better adapted to this climate. This melon sounds like a great variety for tight spaces. It is supposed to have compact 3 foot (1 meter) vines which produce 4 inch (10 cm.), one-serving size cantaloupes. Sounded like a good idea to me. I'm not sure that growing any fruit with the word 'Minnesota' in the name is a good idea in the tropics, but I will try it again because I'm intrigued by the small size.


I did have a colossal watermelon but it was pre-blogging days and I didn't take a picture. I grew Moon and Stars (an Amish heirloom variety). The name comes from the small and large yellow dots (moons and stars) that speckle the rind as well as the foliage. My first one was 28 pounds (12.7 kg.). This picture is of a smaller one. The tile underneath is to protect it from millipedes. We had an unusually rainy "dry" season during the time the melons were ripening, resulting in fruit with not much color or flavor. I will try this variety again next year during the dry season and hope for better results.