> (note: botanically watermelons are vegetables, but culturally we eat them as fruit)<p>Wait a second, I thought it was the other way around, i.e. I thought that "cousins" of watermelons such as cucumber, squash or zucchini were botanically fruits but we ate them as vegetables. Otherwise, how come that we call them "fruiting vegetables"? Can someone with more knowledge than me, explain this?
The article hinted to this toward the end but less water makes for better tasting watermelons. I moved from CA to NY and noticed that the watermelons were sourced from Florida when I moved. Watermelons from Florida taste so much worse than CA. Hit or miss on good ones, I’d literally throw out 90% of them (or blend for juice).<p>Something else I’ve noticed is that you basically can’t find normal seeded watermelons anymore. Do stores and growers not produce them anymore because they don’t sell? I miss how much better those tasted as well, and their shape. It’s interesting how the demand for certain types of produce in areas can make it basically impossible to get a variety. Most grocery stores now carry the same types of produce in the US, it makes for rather boring cooking (ignoring specialty stores and co-ops that are hard to find outside of cities)
We could also do what Israel does and improve our water infrastructure in California.<p>I understand climate change is a perpetual issue, but that doesn't mean we can't adjust and even thrive.
While traveling in India with our kids they were missing Halloween .... So, not able to find pumpkins in Kerala, we totally carved watermelons .... They work great, have a redder hue when lit .... but do attract a lot of ants
I'm convinced. Watermelons have a decently hard outer casing and make a great store for water. Here (South UK) we see quite a lot of rainfall and the climate is fairly gentle. If we could breed these things tolerant of lower temperatures then it could be a goer. That would be something else to see on a farm here: A plot of melons next to your Maris Pipers!<p>The climate is going to be getting wackier and wackier in future. I suspect we'll be seeing some pretty far out ideas becoming fact quite quickly. Large melons grown outdoors in British soil may not be the strangest. If this takes off, then Benny Hill's (RIP) spiritual successor will have material for years.<p>Back in the mid '80s I remember scrumping a few melons from a nearby plot in Cyprus. We lived in the WESBA (near Paphos). Teenage boys are pretty close to the bottom of the list of pests that afflict watermelons, so I don't feel <i>too</i> guilty. A freshly picked melon is a wonderous thing and there is so much water in them.<p>Now I really come to think about it, the more important melons become. The honey dew version must have quite a lot of sugar in it as well as moisture, again another useful trait.<p>We probably need a lot more melons. Ooo-er missis.
Hmm, I am not a botanist, but since watermelons have seeds, and botanically speaking seeds are in the fruit, aren't watermelon fruit botanically speaking?
I got curious, could we make "underground irrigation" to reduce evaporation of water?<p>I mean, water underground is usually contained on a certain level (or levels), e.g. if there's a clay soil layer, then almost always there's water above it, because clay is hardly permeable by water.<p>We could make an artificial clay layer (or plastic or whatever that's hard for water to get through), at a depth of a few feet or meters. That way, water would evaporate way less than with open surface irrigation/watering.
>endured a six-week journey on which watermelons were his sole source of water. The writer, Major Edward Keith-Roach, complained about being unable to shave during that trip but couldn’t praise watermelons enough for saving his life and making the trek possible.<p>Was this ever common to do, using watermelons as a potable water supply?