From what I see the parentage is Extra Early Knight x Netted Gem. Do you have a source of E E Knight? In the U.S. Netted Gem is available at rareseeds.com (Baker Creek) for one.

Goldman's book says E E Knight is "quite possibly a large-fruited selection from Netted Gem" and "it's popularity was limited to the Chesapeake Bay area." If you can't find a source then do you cross Netted Gem with something else with green flesh?

By the way, I stumbled across this link about the Montreal Melon.

Here is a link that might be useful: E E Knight descriptions

Yes, I had noticed that Netted Gem was available at Baker Creek. I must admit though that I had just assumed I'd be able to find EEKnight. Seems not. Thanks for those two liknks by the way.

Perhaps the way to go is do as you suggested and go for another green-fleshed melon as the other parent. It will be fun trying. And I'll still get to eat melons. How nice to be able to enjoy the fruits of one's labours - literally!

I realize I didn't answer the question about whether it would be worth trying if you had both parents. Someone might think there was little hope for a home gardener to duplicate what a commercial breeder accomplished. The breeder might have grown out hundreds or thousands of plants, and the home gardener might grow dozens.

What chance is there of getting something as good as what the breeder thought was the best offspring? It seems to me that the home gardener will be selecting for what grows best in their exact soil, weather conditions, personal taste, and other preferences. I think there would be a good chance of getting something just as good, from the home gardener's point of view.

Me too. So I think I'll go ahead and try. It'll be fun, though my friends and neighbours might get sick of free melon offerings!

Please see my comment about Fordhook Gem in my post in the Cochiti Pueblo thread in this Forum on t his first page.

Carolyn

Carolyn, good suggestions but ...

The most obvious place for me to look was the SSE Yearbooks and at least in the 2003 edition.

I don't have access. I am only a recent SSE member and have no idea when the latest yearbook will make it overseas.

If you are desperate for it why don't you e-mail Amy off her website and ask her if there is a commercial source.

I had thought of doing this but hesitated for precisely the reasons you gave about becoming a public source. However, as you pointed out, there's no harm in asking if she happens to know of a commercial source.

And finally, I have checked with both Baker Creek and Sand Hill but to no avail.

Raymondo, who is soon moving to a cooler climate and will have to wait another year anyway to get a hoop house or equivalent set up to lengthen the season.

Ray,

Once more with feeling.

I referred folks to the Cochiti Pueblo thread in terms of my promise to speak to Glenn Drowns about that melon and this melon and reported back what he said.

You've responded to an earlier post I did, not the one where I talked to Glenn this past Saturday.

Carolyn

Thanks again Carolyn. I appreciate your speaking with Glenn Drowns on behalf of those enquiring about various melons.

I didn't, as I guess was so painfully obvious, read the whole thread. Too impatient. Will I never learn?

I did email Amy Goldman but will quite understand if she doesn't respond. She must have been inundated with enquiries after her melon book was published, assuming people found her web site. Did you get many requests after publishing your book on heirloom tomatoes?