The fact is, I really didn't notice the leaves while they were growing. They didn't have watermelon leaves, which should have been a tip-off. What I saw was lots of cute round Minnesota Midget watermelons coming on. Imagine my surprise when yesterday I found some of them had turned pale yellow. Cutting one open, I discovered cantaloupe seeds and even more surprising, orange solid flesh. Definitely not a watermelon.
This was my first year to try new early varieties of melons. In the R.H. Shumway's catalog, MN Midget Melons are described as an early heirloom variety with golden flesh, developed by the University of Minnesota in 1948. It was about time I tried them. I failed to notice that the picture was of a cantaloupe, a muskmelon, not a watermelon.
Also from Shumway's, on the page with watermelons, were New Queen Hybrids, featuring bright orange flesh. They haven't done as well due to a crowded corner planting, next to a lot of strapping weeds and bindweed. There's only one and it isn't ready yet.
Sweet! Minnesota Midget Melons of the Musk, not Water, variety.
These little guys are not only tasty, but quite prolific When ripe, they slip off the vine easily.
The best part of these cantaloupes is they are not hybrid. I'm saving some seeds for next year, when they will not surprise me one bit.
