Meloncella Galatina Double Check

As a seed saver and seller, I have to be very careful to keep each variety of cucumber and melon separate from each other. Specific protocol must be followed to ensure each variety is what is stated on the label. To do this, I generally keep each batch of seed properly labeled and separate from other varieties beginning with seed extraction, fermentation (if needed) to drying, to further processing and finally to long-term storage of the viable dry seed. When one is dealing with multiple varieties of seed that look identical to each other, it can be easy to mix things up.

 

 

 

 

 

One day while I was processing more than one kind of seed on the same day (something I don’t recommend) and was working on a specific variety in an unlabeled container. After being distracted by a movie my family was watching, I suddenly realized that I no longer remembered which variety of cucumber I was dealing with. While I did suspect the seed was the Meloncella Galatina, I could not be sure. So I labeled the seed as “Likely Meloncella Galatina”, sprouted a few and started growing it out in my greenhouse.

 

 

 After growing in a 10 inch hydroponic basket for a while, I discovered that the variety in question was indeed the Meloncella Tonda Galatina. What a relief!