Week#3 my garden & crops

The White Seed Melon (Edible Melon Seeds) From My Farm

INTRODUCTION

Hi Steemians, and hope everyone here is doing great! I congratulate everyone who participated in the previous contest and at the same time, welcome everyone to that would be participating in this contest.

Here comes another contest to share our different farm or garden produce that contributes to food and nutritional supply for our healthy living.

Today, I would like to share with the community how I make use of the little space in my environment, for cultivation and production of the white seed melon (edible melon seed) used for cooking.

Description of the edible melon (white melon seeds)

The edible white melon otherwise called egusi, is a specie of melon said to have originated from the southern part of Mexico and the Dominican Republic. It gained spread to the western tropical Africa including Nigeria. In the western tropical Africa, it has a similar scientific name as Cucumeropsis mannii, and it is cultivated for food and serves as a source of nutritions. The stretches are about 4.5 meters long that are closed on a strong hairs. The leaves are about 12 meters long and 14 meters wide. In the course of producing fruits, it bears little yellow male and female flowers, having petals under 1cm long.

The fruits come in various sizes with no definite shapes as shown the image above. The white seeds are gotten after peeling off the its shell.

The Melothria sphaerocarpa has moveable stretches that enables it to climb over the nearest plant.

Scientific Classification Of Melothria sphaerocarpa (the white edible melon)

Here is the scientific Classification Of the edible melon.

Kingdom:	Plantea

Family:	Cucurbitacea

Genus:	Melothria

Species:	M.sphaerocarpa

Planting and growth of white seed melon(egusi)

Planting the Melothria sphaerocarp (egusi) is done using the seeds. In Africa precisely the eastern part Nigeria, it is planted during the rainy season beginning from March and May. It grows in a soil that is rich in organic nutrients and high rainfall of about 1, 200 mm pouring between April and October.
The holes are dug at about 2cm deep having 4 seeds in the soil and 1 meter spacing.

Fertilizers containing nitrogen could be applied to enhance the growth.

Measures Taken taken for the diagnosis and prevention of various diseases?

The white seed melon plant is a somewhat disease resistant plant. A major disease control measure is ensure that the farm is weeded before the plant grows.

Traps are Carefully set in the farm so as to scare animals from damaging the crops.

Harvesting The Melon

The melon matures for harvesting between August and September when the plants starts to dry. The famer begins gathering the fruits and after wards, starts hitting them with hard wood. After some days the melon starts to rot or decay. At this point, the famer would open it up to bring out the seeds which would then be washed to finally separate the seeds.

After the washing is done, the seeds would be spread in the sun for it to dry and be ready to peel off the shell. The shell is peeled off so as to obtain the white melon seeds that would then be prepared and used for cooking.

USES/ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF THE WHITE SEED MELON

The white melon seeds are used in various ways as it both used for industrial and nutritional purposes.

• White Seed Melon are used for making soups and stews. It would be grinded and used for soup preparation, it adds color to the soup and thickens it. It could also be used make egusi or melon cake.

Its contribution to economic growth is seen in the in its industrial applications as follows:

• It is used for soap making
• It is used for livestock feed
• It could also be used to produce ointment

Finally, I enjoin the following friends to join me:

All images are legally owned by me!