Photographs of this planting through the 2026 season, oldest first.
The photographs
Week of 8 JuneA Crimson Sweet watermelon on 11 June, lying flat with no runner out yet, its blades cut almost to the midrib into rounded lobes that are scalloped again, every margin and stalk bristling with stiff pale hairs that the night flash lights edge by edge.Week of 6 JulyA Crimson Sweet watermelon on 7 July, seen straight down as it sets out in three directions at once — leaves twice-cut into lobes and lobed again, several holed clean through, the longest runner ending in a curled tendril, under flat overcast light.Week of 20 JulyA melon just set on 23 July, netted all over in fine dark green with one broader pale band running its length and a few long white hairs still standing off it, lying in clover and dry thatch with low early sun throwing long soft shadows.Week of 27 JulyA Crimson Sweet watermelon on 30 July, banded end to end in dark blue-green and mottled yellow-green, with the rain still standing on it as separate round beads rather than a film because the rind is waxy, and the dried flower yet on its blossom end.Week of 3 AugustA Crimson Sweet watermelon on 6 August, deep blue-green under jagged mint-pale stripes that break up into blotches, its whole surface finely crazed rather than smooth and a small pale star radiating at the blossom end, in hard overhead sun.Week of 17 AugustThree half-pints of amber preserve cooling on the stovetop rack, hand-dated on the lid, and behind them the candied peel still draining — each strip translucent now, pale green at one edge and blushed pink at the other.Week of 31 AugustA Crimson Sweet watermelon from directly overhead on 3 September, its dark bands saw-toothed along their edges against paler stripes that are stippled rather than solid — rain pooled in the hollows of the netted rind, one dried tendril curled across it.
