Tuna Patties with Sun Dried Tomatoes

This past weekend I experimented by creating a new recipe which was assembled from items already in the kitchen.

Items used were:

2 Cans Albacore in water (7oz ea)
2 large eggs
¼ cup of sliced green onions
½ cup sun dried tomatoes preserved in olive oil
¼ tsp ground pepper
¼ tsp garlic powder
¼ cup olive oil


I used Albacore but you could also use Tuna.

Drain the Tuna well.
Cut the sun dried tomatoes into pieces half the size of a raisin.
In a bowl, mix all the ingredients except the eggs.
Mix well.
Add more or less pepper and garlic to your liking.
In a separate bowl, stir up the eggs well then pour into tuna mix.
Stir well.
Make 3 to 4 patties depending on size of patty you want.

In large pan add olive oil and heat well.

Carefully place a patty into some olive oil and cook 2 to 3 minutes on each side.
Flip carefully until egg is thoroughly cooked.
It may brown a little on each side but that is fine.

If you try it out, let me know how it came out and what you think.

Enjoy.

Day 55 – Giant watermelons are beginning to grow fast

Day 55 is just past the half way mark of 100 days to harvest. The 5 plants are spreading out with little yellow flowers and baby watermelons.

In order to keep track and describe the progress of each plants I have assigned them numbers, WP1, WP2, WP3, WP4 and WP5 (Watermelon Plant #).

WP2 has the largest watermelon so far. Look at the picture with the measuring tape. The watermelon is almost 4 inches long. Very good WP2!

WP3 has the most large watermelons. It has three which are between 1 ½ to 2 inches. I will allow these to grow just a bit larger before I decide which one to keep and trim the rest off. I heard plants will grow larger fruit if there are no other fruits to take away resources.

WP1, WP4 and WP5 all are healthy growing plants with 1 watermelon about an inch long on each plant.

This past week I gave WP1 and WP2 pigeon manure instead of the regular 20-20-20 fertilizer I have been giving the other WPs. I would like believe WP2 has such a large watermelon because of the pigeon manure. I am a little hesitant to use pigeon manure on all the watermelon plants because of the fear I may over fertilize them and burn them and cause them to die. That would be a tragic ending to this experiment.

I may just slowly introduce pigeon manure to the other plants. I know using pigeon manure is the right thing to do but I don’t want to ruin this experiment.

I am also thinking about placing a padding of some type under the watermelons to get them off the ground and perhaps cut down on any insects pests.

Does the watermelon fruit need sunshine or will it do better if shaded? I don’t mean shading the whole plant, just the fruit.

Day 55 and counting.

Day 46 – The Baby is born

I don’t know what happened but I looked and suddenly it was there… the future 200 pound Baby. I was waiting for the yellow flowers to appear, then the bees then the Baby. Instead I came home from work and saw the Baby.
Somehow the flowers and bees showed up. I believe in the immaculate conception of Virgin Mary but not in the immaculate conception of a watermelon. No way!

Now the race is on to grow this Baby as large as possible. If you believe the seed package this little Baby will be up to 200 hundred pounds by mid September. I guess it’s possible with plenty of water, fertilizer, sunshine and heat.

Here in the Sacramento Valley we are starting the hottest time of the year. Between mid July to Mid August temperatures can easily reach into the 100’s and the nights stay warm. I use to dread this time of the year but this year I am thinking this is going to be great for the Baby.

I have never grown watermelons before so I have questions. Is it possible to over water a watermelon? Should I water daily? Should I water deep then wait until it dries out then water deep again? What is the best ratio of fertilizer? How often should I fertilize? What do I do to make the plant use it’s energy and resources to grow a large watermelon and not waste them on growing a larger plant?

Once the Baby grows about the size of a walnut I am going to start pinching off any new flowers and fruit. If you read my previous postings you’ll notice I sprouted five seeds and they are all doing well. Three of the plants have babies. Soon I hope to have one Baby on each plant in order to spread my bets.

If you have any suggestions I am all ears. I really want to see what a 200 pound watermelon looks like.

I will be posting more often now that we are seeing results. Maybe I’ll have a weekly weigh-in.

What do you do with a 200 pound watermelon?

Day 35 - Giant Leaves

It’s day 35. Not much to report. The magpies are being held at bay by Mr. Owl. In addition I placed small plastic snakes on each watermelon hill.

All five plants continue to grow and grow. The leaves are much larger than a normal watermelon plant. This picture has a quarter for reference. The leaves are about the size of my hands.

Soon I hope to see the flowers appear. There are still many bees in the area so I expect to get quick fertilization and formation of fruit.

Until then stand by.