One of the things we are doing this year is experimenting to see how early we can start our plants. We started many plants a month earlier than usual. In February we sowed plants like tomatoes, corn, and watermelon. Sweet corn usually requires warmed to sweeten up so we started with non sweet varieties first like ‘Strawberry Popcorn’ and ‘Seneca Red Stalker.’ Since these varieties are flint corn we had to wait until the plants dried before harvesting them. With them dried and the ‘Roma’ tomatoes ramping down in production, we took this time to clear and transition the beds to plant something else.

With the space, my son and I sowed seeds and are hoping to see 20 strong ‘Oaxacan Green’ dent corn plants.

As for the watermelon:
The ‘Klondike Blue Ribbon’ could have used a few more days to develop its exquisite crispy texture. Nonetheless, the flavor and sweetness was present. On the second tasting of a ‘Sweet Siberian,’ we find that the flesh is rather smooth and just sweet. Once again, the typical watermelon flavor is either non-existent or rather subtle.

Zone 10b / San Gabriel Valley / Los Angeles / Southern California / USA

Music: Dan Lebowitz, “Jeremiah’s Song”