2016-04-22 21:26 Bitter Melons (Goya)
Y (Kuma's owner)
As autumn approaches, some of the summer vegetables in my backyard are getting smaller. The zucchinis are still growing, the tomatoes are not too bad, but the Japanese bitter melons (Goya) seem to be almost out of season. They are still in good condition but the fruits are getting smaller.
The bitter melon is my favorite vegetable. They are cultivated in Okinawa Prefecture a lot. Okinawa is an island located in the southern part of Japan. The climate of Okinawa is subtropical, the same as where I live, that's why I can grow them well.
The first time I saw a bitter melon, I didn't have a good impression because the surface of bitter melon is uneven and I associated with a sea slug. The taste is, of course bitter. It depends, some people don't like it but I like it very much.
I didn't expect that I could buy bitter melon seeds in Australia, but I found them on the Internet last year. I bought them and started to grow them. Their germination rate was high so they were easy to grow.
One day, I was looking at a seedling of the bitter melon and noticed the difference between bitter melons and most other plants. Most plants have cotyledons, as do bitter melons. But bitter melons have a second layer of cotyledons. There must be a terminology that I don't know. After the germination, the first layer of cotyledons come up and then another layer of cotyledons come up, and finally the true leaves come up. How unique!
The season of bitter melon has almost ended. I'll keep some seeds for the next season.