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Melons for the Passionate Grower | 
 enlarge | Author: Amy Goldman
Creator: Victor Schrager
Publisher: Artisan
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
Buy New: $14.09
You Save: $10.91 (44%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 235664
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 176
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 7.2 x 0.7
ISBN: 1579652131
Dewey Decimal Number: 635.61
UPC: 791243652131
EAN: 9781579652135
ASIN: 1579652131
Publication Date: May 25, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Absolutely Brand New & In Stock. 100% 30-Day Money Back. Direct from our warehouse. Ships by USPS. 1+ million customers served-In business since 1986. Happy Customers is Our #1 Goal. Toll Free Support
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Your local market probably carries only honeydew, cantaloupe, and watermelon, but it's the heirloom melons of the world that contain both remarkable succulence and the critical germ plasm that may ward off future plant diseases. Amy Goldman's tribute to the magnificent family of melons, Melons for the Passionate Grower is both a celebration of the rich gifts of these fruits and a cautionary tale of how many of these treats nearly went extinct. Before you get too caught up in the gorgeous photos and fascinating histories of these gems, note the seed company list at the end of the book--you can try to grow all the plants you read about. The introductory section includes detailed instructions on hand pollination, ripening, and a few recipes like watermelon salad with onion, pepper, oil, and vinegar in addition to the sweet melon. The pages that fall in the middle are mini temples devoted to individual melons. Often romantic histories are included next to the glossy photos--who can resist tales of the Hungarian noble who wrapped her beloved sweet melons in her furs? With varieties like the slender, crunchy Snake and the astonishingly sweet Bidwell Casaba, learning about these glorious fruits will keep you fascinated for the rest of your gardening days. --Jill Lightner
Product Description
This year's heirloom tomato is a melon! Acclaimed gardener Amy Goldman, known to viewers of Martha Stewart and PBS, is a dedicated seed saver working to preserve fast-disappearing varieties of heirloom melons. Her book, Melons for the Passionate Grower, is a celebration of the speckled, bumpy, oh-so-sweet world of the melon—from Minnesota Midget and Georgia Rattlesnake to Ali Baba and Sweet Siberian. Here she profiles more than one hundred varieties, each showcased in a full-color photographic still life recalling eighteenth- and nineteenth-century botanical paintings and engravings. Goldman also offers expert advice on cultivating and selecting your own melons, as well as the rudiments of seed saving.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
You'll never be the same! August 5, 2007
I never dreamed a book about gardening could be so profoundly inspiring. The photographs are award winning quality but it is Amy Goldman's inspiring text that makes this book so remarkable. Your heartbeat will quicken as you search her seed sources for these little known melons. It will be hard to wait until next spring when you can "spring into action". The French will no longen be the only ones to enjoy the delights of these culinary treasures.
JUICY! March 8, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'm a watermelon lover. I was drawn to the book by the cover photograph which teased of more melons to come. Each page is a feast for the eye and the palette. The photographs jump off the page. The writing conveys each melons' individual personality. I want to know more.
And, the recipes are spectacular. Especially the pickled watermelon rind.
 Not a gardening book..... August 22, 2004
16 out of 17 found this review helpful
I planted Charentais cantaloupe seeds this summer and grew a dozen or so fruits along with the Moon and Stars watermelon. Both of these melons are antique varieties, so you won't find either in most supermarkets. My grand children told me the Moon and Stars watermelon were "sweeter than the `big ones'", meaning those purchased by the side of the road or their local grocery store.
One photograph in MELONS by Amy Goldman shows the Charentais filled with port wine and looking scrumptious. Goldman describes the melon as not very sweet. I ate the Charentais melons myself and found them quite rich, but not terribly sweet.
The photo of a Charentais cantaloupe half filled with port wine pretty much informs you about the content of this book -- which is a pretty picture-book, not a gardening book. Don't get me wrong, I like lovely photos as much as the next person, and this book has plenty of them. However, I was looking for a gardening book and this book is not a "how-to" grow melons as far as I am concerned, but more of a "what to do with them after you have them in hand" (including looking at them). What I know about cantaloupe growing I have learned through trial and error and from other sources such as neighbors.
The one thing you may learn from this book is that most US consumers are aware of the existence of only a very few melons. Goldman wants you to know the world contains a diversity of these fruit. Some look like gourds, some like pumpkins and some like spaghetti squash. Goldman has included much anecdotal information about each of her featured melons. Even though it won't help me become a better melon grower, I am glad I bought the book, because it contains a wealth of information about a favorite fruit. BTW if you want gardening information about growing antique melons, get the Seeds of Change catalogue through their web site.
3 1/2 stars, very interesting but could be better November 4, 2003
8 out of 11 found this review helpful
I bought the book in hopes of learning about various hard to find melons. This book has an amazing variety of melons but I fond it to be rather light on the amount of information provided to the inexperienced new grower.
You get several pages of tips on growing and harvesting (I don't think it's quite detailed enough for the novice), a page on saving seeds, two on hand pollination (these were interesting), and a couple of pages of recipes to use your harvest in.
The main part of the book is sort of art book like to me with a few pages of type histries and several pages of artistic photos of various melons. Each of the melon pictures is identified as figure#1-100, you'll find a corresponding section in the back of the book giving info on size, weight and so on. At the end of the book there's a source listing for places to get the seeds of some, not all, of what is shown in the book.
GREAT BOOK December 24, 2002
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
if your into melons this book is well worth the money,the pictures or beautiful and the information is very informative but
to the point.
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