The Meloncella di San Donato in the College Garden

Along with many other cucumber-melon varieties, I decided to grow the Meloncella di San Donato in my experimental college garden. I wanted to grow out the San Donato first to attempt grow out the variety for seed prior to being pollinated by other varieties.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At first it struggled. Part of this had to do with the fact that there was insufficient water for the plants. Once I got the water situation figured out, I decided to add compost and fertilizer to the next section of the garden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, the fertilizer was either too much, or there was too much of one thing or another. The transplants failed to be established and rodents began eating the seedlings and the tops of the San Donato plants and fruit. The remainder of the time I grew the San Donato, the plants and fruit dealt with significant pressure from rodents. I replanted the seedlings at least twice more and the rodents continued to eat all of the seedlings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the end of the season, I lacked enthusiasm to continue maintaining such a large plot. I decided that, if I continue to grow at the college, it would be in a much smaller plot.

Setup of the 20x20 trial plot at Solano Community College

In order to expand my gardens and find opportunities to grow more trial varieties, I started a garden plot at Solano Community College in January of 2022. The plot I was provided with was a 20’x20’ flat plot primarily consisting of clay and was covered with tall weeds. In order to start my garden out weed-free, I pulled the large plants out, I mowed the shorter weeds down and plowed them under. Then, one section at a time, I covered the plot with layers of dry composted horse manure, cardboard and woodchips.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The entire process required many hours of whatever spare time I had on and off for about 3-5 weeks. When I was finally done, I was able to keep from worrying about the weeds for a while.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regretting 3 Cubit Yards of sandy dirt/compost

Thinking it wise to get some garden soil to add to my gardens, I purchased what a local landscape supply company called “garden soil”. Not just one yard, but 3 full yards. I made of video of the size of the pile here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 It took an afternoon to move over to my compost area and over half of my garden. I was super excited for it for a while. I was looking forward to incorporating it in with the rest of my plants. As I began using it, though – I noticed that something was wrong. After using it as a base for my soil blocks I began to notice something. My plants began to suffer beginning with their first true leaves. Even then, the plants that started did so slowly and struggled to thrive. I came to the conclusion that I had made an investment in something that was not only going to not pay off, but now I had 3 cubic yards of beautiful, yet useless sandy junk in my garden. Oh well.