This is my first year growing "Collective Farm Woman Melon". I am impressed. The vine doesn't seem to mind our weird Colorado temperature fluctuations. Doesn't sprawl out too much and even works well on a trellis. Fruit are the size of large softballs. They start off green, turn yellow, then gold.
The important question is how does one taste?
DELICIOUS! The flavor is a bit like a pear crossed with a honey dew with a little musky spice added to it.
Texture-wise, the one I picked still had a little green on it. I didn't plan on picking it, but when I lifted it to see what color the bottom was, it came right off the vine. It had a bit of a pear texture to it. It was a little crisp so it probably could have ripened a tad more, but it was still yummy. Like a cantaloupe, if you can actually smell a melon scent from the fruit before you cut it open, it is good to go. I could distinctly smell the melon so we went ahead and ate it with breakfast.
As for yield, well, I only have 1 vine. I just harvested that first fruit and there are 2 more full sized melons starting to turn yellow. There are some more little green ones developing, so if the frost holds off, I may get up to 6 or 7 fruit by the end of the growing season. Next year I will be putting in several more plants.I also got a late start on these so I feel really lucky to get as much fruit as I am. I will start some ahead of time in-doors rather than waiting to plant them directly in the soil. That will really help productivity.
I got the seeds at Baker Creek. I highly recommend this tasty little personal-sized melon.
