Woman’s ‘homegrown watermelon’ reveal turns into a ‘rollercoaster of emotions’
A self-described aspiring farmer’s attempt to show off her homegrown watermelon turned into a mishap that TikTok viewers were thrilled was caught on camera.
Katie Zornes (@tri_ing_to_live) had been working on her garden and said she was excited to cut up a fresh watermelon. She set up her camera and, in a video that’s now been viewed over 4 million times, sliced it open. The problem? It was not a watermelon at all.
Zornes walked her followers through a live-action play-by-play of the emotional journey she went on while cutting open her “watermelon,” being incredibly confused by the very un-watermelon contents she found inside and her slow realization of what the harvest actually was.
Upon cutting into the “watermelon,” Zornes initially seemed to think it was a squash based on its pale appearance inside.
“I have read that squash cannot cross-pollinate with watermelons, so even though this had grown into where the squash are growing, I did not think that was possible, but now it makes sense as to why this grew so fast,” she explains in the clip.
To confirm her suspicions, Zornes then decided to taste her suspected squash, which led to even more confusion.
“It tastes like squash…like a sweet squash,” Zornes describes. “I’m also racking my brain, like, did I plant a squash like this? Spaghetti squash? No, no, I didn’t.”
Zornes then realized the truth: Her “watermelon” was actually a pumpkin she had plucked from the giant Connecticut field pumpkin patch that she had planted and forgotten about.
“Yes, I planted pumpkins. Just forgot. Yes, I knew cross pollination didn’t work that way but my brain glitch had me thinking it defied science,” Zornes laughed in the comments.
“I’m dying. This was a rollercoaster of gardening emotions for me,” wrote @magnustheboston.
“Oh my Gourd….” joked @jaqueeleenaa.
According to The Survival Gardener, pumpkins and watermelons do belong in the same Cucurbitaceae family, but they aren’t closely related. That being said, they both grow on long vines on the ground, start out the same green color and can appear round or oblong.
“I almost did the same thing then I realized it must have been a pumpkin and sure enough, they all turned orange,” admitted @heatherguthrie237.
“I also planted Connecticut [field] pumpkins. My husband would not believe me that it wasn’t a watermelon. (Which I didn’t plant),” added @cherryextract.
Zornes is not the first person to get a watermelon confused with a pumpkin. TikTok is full of watermelon vs. pumpkin mishap videos, and with some varieties, it can be hard to immediately see a difference.
Zornes explained that her excitement over spotting the yellowing on the bottom of the food — a sign that watermelon is ready to harvest — caused her to overlook the obvious stem on the top.
“I didn’t even really think about this up here,” she described. “So I opened this up, and I can’t tell you how sad I was. And now I’m sad that I cut this off before it turned into its full pumpkinness.”
While Zornes may have been sad over accidentally ruining her pumpkin, viewers found a lot of joy in watching her experience.
“The look on your face [literally] made me lol! I’m so happy you recorded this moment! Lmao made my day,” wrote @sophiaarley.
“I’m so dead at the long confused stare,” added @beccaportillo25.
Plus, Zornes revealed that she still has one watermelon growing in her garden, so all hope is not lost.
“This video was a journey, thanks for taking us with you on it. Good luck on the rest of the pumpkins, and your watermelon,” said @let_go_my_meg_o.
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