BACKYARD VINE

MATURE MELONS CAN WEIGH UP TO 5KG BUT MAY BE A LOT SMALLER. HARVEST JAM MELONS WHEN THEY ARE HEAVY AND SOUND “DRUMMY” WHEN TAPPED.

My friend Liz Gower, aka The Jam Lady, who makes lots of jams and preserves to sell at local markets, found she was being asked frequently for melon jam.

It seems that melon jam, which is made from a watermelon relative called jam melon, has sentimental appeal to many older Australians. It was popular in the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s at a time when it and other easy-to-grow crops such as choko and Jerusalem