The Amazing Watermelon Plant

As spring began and we were planting tomato & pepper plants, we decided to stick some of our watermelon seeds in dirt and see if they'd grow. I took nine seeds we'd saved from melons we had eaten and put then in a little pot. Before long, I had six nice little plants. We took them down to an area of the yard that is usually wetter than most and carefully planted them... Over the next few months, we dumped buckets and buckets of water around them... and... well... they just didn't do much. We got some little melons, and one decent sized one that was very tasty... but nothing very impressive.

However, one day, in the midst of our hot, dry summer, we noticed what looked like a little watermelon plant that popped up in the gravel-- yes, the gravel out the back door that registered temps of 115 degrees and up at times... For a while we just kind of laughed wondering how it even got there... and pretty much ignored it... but it kept growing... and growing... so we started paying a little more attention to it... and giving it some water as well.... When we took this picture (Oct 5), we had seen five big watermelon on it-- all bigger than any of our other ones. Since then we've found a sixth one. Anyone want a slice? Watermelon in November! Yum, yum, yum!!!
Here they are... the watermelon picked in November-- 15, 16, 17, 18, 18, & 19 inches long!! And tasty too... except some of them got overripe before we ate or shared them. :(