The first time I heard of a “square watermelon” was one night when I had my computer on and noticed a lady hanging watermelons from a high fence, after wrapping them in old T-shirts and dish towels. She had them hanging so as not to lay on the ground. That wasn’t new, but just that quickly, before I had a chance to turn it off, she started talking about “square watermelons”
She was telling how to grow them so they will turn out square. Nice thing to know, so we decided to try it in this spring’s garden. We had never had time for a much of a garden because of too much work to do at the horse farm.
We like fresh corn on the cob. So, if you plant a few kernels every couple of days, you have corn ripening at different times, so have lots of fresh corn on the cob every few days over a large part of the summer.
As I am typing this, our corn is already gone, the stalks are cut off, and leaning against the garage and about to be tied around our flagpole as a Halloween decoration.
We did have cucumbers this summer, but instead of being green, they turned out yellow. But they tasted just as good as any other cucumber. Well, as long as you put them in a bowl of the right amount of vinegar, water and sugar.
And, can’t forget the red raspberries. Last year we were given about five plants to transplant, and they had a small number of berries. But this year, those plants multiplied, and we had to stake them up because we have two or three times more plants with hands full of berries every day. Lots of fun to go out and pick them and eat all of them before getting back in the house.
I see I have left out one important fact. It has to do with how you can plant a watermelon to get it to be square. The reason for the fence is so the vines won’t grow out into the yard. They will intermingle in the fence. And the fence is 5-feet-by-16-feet in order to be big enough for six to eight plants. First, you have to build a box that is 8 inches square by 12 inches deep. It has to be open at the bottom enough for the rainwater to run out. When the watermelon is about the size of a softball, you place it in the box, and be sure to water the vine often. As it grows, it becomes flat on all 4 sides. When you know it is ripe, you have to take the screws out of the box and save it for another year.
When people have heard us speak of “square watermelons,” they are usually very surprised and interested. One lady was in front of us in the line at the grocery store heard the words “square watermelon” and turned around and asked us to explain what we were talking about. Then just a couple of days ago, a maintenance guy came to check to see if our furnace was OK, and when we told him about what was growing in our garden, he followed us outside to see what a square watermelon really looks like.
The TV show left out about how to cut a square watermelon, so I guess we will just have to figure that out for ourselves.
Kay E. Conklin is a retired Delaware County recorder who served four terms. She graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University with a degree in sociology and anthropology.
