In Season / Melons : Plain, Fancy, Seeded or Sans --the Melon Choice Is Ripe

North County melons come in all shapes and sizes, from seedless watermelons to the sweet and juicy honeydew and the more exotic ogene.

Seedless watermelons aren’t really seedless, they just seem that way. They contain white, undeveloped seed pods, which are edible. The plants are sterile and reproduce by cross-pollination with seeded varieties.

Local growers such as Michel Stanislao of Vista raise the melons with minimal watering.

Stanislao sets out the seeds to germinate in a greenhouse to control the initial fertilizing. The seedlings are then transplanted to fields next to a riverbed, which Stanislao has determined to be an ideal blend of soil, natural humidity and even ocean breezes. “When we plant our watermelon, we only have to water it once a week during the first three weeks. That’s it,” says the organic farmer.

The enforced dryness sends the roots deeper into the soil in search of humidity. “This yields a really sweet fruit,” says Stanislao, who adds that this year’s crop promises to be a good one.

Plump, seedless watermelons are also prominently displayed at the Gurrola Vegetable stand at Monte Vista Drive and Buena Creek Road in Vista.

The local, organically grown melon is a big seller, according to Martha Gurrola, who helps her mother, Beatriz, run the stand. Seed-spitting champions, however, will also find plenty of traditional watermelons to keep them in practice.

Rather than seedless watermelons, Tim Connelly of Connelly Farms in Ramona specializes in melons from France, Israel and Morocco. Like most specialty growers, Connelly goes to great lengths to search for products unavailable in regular markets.

This season, Connelly’s vines are laden with pale-fleshed Charentais melons, a French variety similar to a cantaloupe. So delicate is its cultivation that Connelly ends up discarding every other one. The orange-hued ogene, a personal favorite of his, “slips right off the vine by itself when it’s ripe.” But, for Connelly, nothing compares with Israeli melons, which he maintains are “the best in the world.”

The sweet, green-fleshed hayogen also hails from the Middle East. The seeds come from the other side of the globe, but the ripe fruit itself doesn’t take well to shipping.

“We can’t ship it because the skin is too thin,” explains Doug Welburn of the Welburn Gourd Patch in Fallbrook, who sells the juicy melon at the Vista farmer’s market.

Other popular varieties are the mottled-skin Sweet Dream and the De Luz Gold, a long squash look-alike with a pastel flesh. Welburn maintains that his well water contributes to the sweet taste of the melons. Welburn staggers his plantings, and anticipates having certain varieties until Thanksgiving “or the first freeze.”

Melons contain no cholesterol and are a good source of fiber, iron and potassium. Recent government guidelines recommend refrigerating sliced melons at 45 degrees or lower to prevent the development of bacteria.

Michel Produce, 2235 S. Santa Fe, Vista 92083. (619) 727-1385, after 7 p.m. Seedless watermelon 20 cents a pound; organic cantaloupes 2 for $1.

Gurrola’s Produce Stand, corner of Monte Vista Drive and Buena Creek Road, Vista. (619) 727-8841. Stand open daily 9:30 to 5:30 p.m., Sunday 9:30 to 1 p.m. Seedless organic watermelon, 29 cents a pound; regular, 15 cents a pound.

Connelly Farms, 456 Telford Lane, Ramona 92065. (619) 789-5293. Call for prices and availability.

Welburn Gourd Patch (619) 728-0269. Call for availability. Organic melons are priced from 40 to 60 cents a pound at the Vista farmer’s market.