Fall 2022 Ogurdynya Tohum Russian Cucumbermelon

In February of 2022, I ordered the Ogurdynya Tohum Russian Cucumbermelon from Oreshka seed. I had seen the Ogurdynya online many times before, but I never had the opportunity to order it before this time. This variety is some kind of Cucumis melo variety momordica or conomon. The seeds were a bit difficult to germinate, but once they got going, they became a little weedy.

With the end of the 2022 season approaching, I planted the seedlings in the greenhouse. One of the first things to interest me about this variety was its thin, yet spikey vines. Cucumis melo generally has fuzzy – not spiky vines. The fruit are still more fuzzy than spiky. Over time, the fruit grow from having small hairs to being nearly hairless and smooth.

Being that I grew this variety in the greenhouse, I had to self-pollinate them in order for the fruit to set properly. Most of the fruit that formed looked pretty similar to each other. They began somewhat light, but developed a darker blotchy striped pattern as they matured. The fruit were okay, but definitely not bad and definitely not bitter – an attribute that can sometimes express itself in the C. melo variety conomon. But as a crisp young fruit, it was alright.

Of all the attributes I appreciated most in this variety was how well it performed in the greenhouse. Given the minimal time and space I had to grow them in last fall, they did fantastic and produced enough seed to ensure that they are not forever lost.

The Paesana di Soleto in the Greenhouse:

From the moment that I learned about the Paesana di Soleto, I was highly interested in growing it. The odd shaped fruit with incredibly tender texture interested me. This variety, introduced to me by Gino DiMitri, comes from a town very close to Galatina, where the Meloncella Galatina comes from.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While the foliage of the Galatina is not altogether unique, the flowers definitely are. This is something that cannot be easily noticed, unless the gardener has the time to spend with the plants. In this case, I had plenty of time before the main season began, so I took the opportunity to do a little more observation than I normally would. Though the male flowers of the Paesana exhibit the typical yellow petals and fluffy pollen-producing anthers, the female flowers are quite different. In most muskmelons, there is just female stigma. But these flowers also possess the anthers – meaning that they are hermaphrodites or perfect flowers, able to be pollinated by moving the pollen from the stigma to the style.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the female flowers began fruiting I noticed that the Paesana looked so much like the Meloncella Galatina, that I was nearly positive that the two must be the same. However, around the same time, my friend Guiseppe was growing both the Galatina and the Paesana side-by-side. This enabled him to notice that the Paesana had a much more uniform color while the Galatina was much more splotched. Without this information, I may have never pursued growing the Galatina this summer, which was one of the best decisions I made with my garden the entire season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With all this being said, my growing of the Paesana di Soleto in the greenhouse was otherwise uneventful. I was able to harvest enough seed that, if anything happened to the original seed that I received in my first summer planting, I would still be able to have enough to plant a second time before the end of the season.

Spring in the Greenhouse

I usually begin thinking about planting into the greenhouse in March, just over a month before starting my plants for planting out in the plots. This spring I decided to try growing the Paesana di Soleto and a Russian cucumbermelon in the greenhouse. Then I began growing out my cucumber varieties for transplant from soil blocks. Finally – later on – I decided to try growing a few other cucumber varieties.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unlike other years I grew in the greenhouse, I decided to try to make the most of the time that I had in order to make sure that I could take advantage of as much space as possible by interplanting lettuce in between the hydroponic baskets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then, later on in the season, I tried growing a couple last-minute varieties. One of these turned out some seeds while the other did not.