My mother-in-law received some seeds from a woman she used to work with. One of these was for something called "Bitter Melon." I Googled it and found that it is often found in Asian cuisine and is good for people with diabetes (it somehow regulates blood sugar, which seems a rather unique claim).
What I didn't Google, stupidly, until after the plants had started to grow, was "how to grow bitter melon." Weeks after planting I learned that these things need scaffolding. Right now there's only one plant that's grown to any significant size, and it is climbing the deer netting around our garden.
Given that it is recommended to grow these on overhead wooden lattice, I highly doubt the net is going to support the eventual weight of the fruits. While I have no interest in building a scaffold, or investing much money and time into a plant that I have no idea if I will even use, I do plan to let this one grow and see what we can do to support it along the way (physically, not emotionally). I am also not sure if we've planted it at the right time of year or if the cool weather of fall might end things prematurely. I'm hoping it will make it, since I'm kind of interested to see what we end up with.
The melon itself is s funky-looking thing. This is a very zoomed-in photo of one that is perhaps an inch and a half long right now. It is one of several on the vine you see pictured above. It seems like an ingredient straight off of Chopped.
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