Do You Believe in Miracles

I don’t have to see a statue crying or a cancer go into remission to believe in miracles. I don't buy the sales pitch of the many "snake oil" vendors with their miracle supplements and miracle cures and miracle diets and neither should you. To see real miracles, it just takes a little perspective and appreciation of common events.

The example in this case is watermelon. In late May I planted five rows of watermelon hills in a 1000 square-foot space at the Master Gardeners’ Vegetable Demonstration Garden. I prepared 17 hills with about 6 seeds each. The total planted was about 12 grams of seeds; that’s less than half an ounce.

About 120 days later I had harvested and donated to the local food pantries about 800 pounds of watermelon – and – I hauled away three or four wheelbarrows full of spent vines. All it took was some water, sun, decent soil and patience to produce 800 pounds from half an ounce! That is surely a miracle. (By the way, the seeds I used were leftovers, two and a half years beyond their expiration date.)

The sun did most of the work, producing the energy to be converted into fruit. (It is not surprising that many ancient civilizations worshiped the sun.)

I used no insecticides; I was lucky not to have insect problems. I used no herbicides, choosing to eliminate weeds mechanically, which means wading in among the vines a couple of times a week and pulling them by hand. I did feed the hills a couple of times with (cover your ears, foodies) chemical fertilizer, because it added precisely the required nutrients and could be applied precisely where it was needed, eliminating any possible runoff problems.

The change in appearance over the summer from hills of soil to a network of vines with ripe fruit was truly miraculous. It only takes perspective to appreciate it. Just take a little time to “stop and smell the melons.” 😀