The Art Of Resurrecting Heirloom Watermelons

[Elmira Telegram 285]

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It was hot in Louisiana, and after 15 hours in the car to get there from Virginia, Joshua Fitzwater and Debra Freeman stepped into the humidity that is common in the community of Calhoun.

They had come all that way to track down a watermelon that few people had heard about and even fewer have actually tasted. The Red-N-Sweet was the last watermelon produced by the Calhoun Research Station in 1987. The station shuttered permanently in 2011, and many seeds were lost—potentially forever. Kerry Heafner, a Louisiana State University associate extension agent in horticulture, had been able to track down a few of them, like the Red-N-Sweet. This melon is a deep, dark red, and it’s incredibly sweet.

“The minute I tasted that watermelon I was like, holy crap, this is the best-tasting heirloom I’ve ever had,” says Fitzwater. 

In 2019, Fitzwater and Freeman would drive thousands of miles on a quest to find the rarest, most interesting watermelons that no longer exist in the greater commercial market. Along the way, they tasted and photographed melons, harvesting the seeds to save and plant. Fitzwater and Freeman, both professional storytellers, also diligently collected the history and context surrounding each type of seed they came across.

“You’re touching that history, and in a way, preserving that history by saving these rare heirloom watermelons,” says Fitzwater.

 

Read the rest here. 

Do you, or have you ever, tried to grow heirloom varieties? How did it go?

[Hal 318]

I have planted Heirloom varieties of tomatoes and squash . The tomatoes were Green Goddess , they were delicious right from the vine . Up until tasting this ripe when green variety I detested tomatoes, disappointing that I didn’t plant any this last Season but still have the seeds for next year. 
The Squash where a Winter variety of butternut called Violina , delicious but HUGE  ! These things were on average 10 to 12 lbs at maturity. Great flavor but need to be processed for preserving unless a steady diet of squash is preferred . I did dry and store the seeds from them for future use . 

[Chris 1,914]

Yeah as some here know I did too. I didn't have any luck with, well, any of them. Especially the tomatoes.