Powdermelon Seeds

Powdermelon Seeds

Type	Seed
Grows	Powdermelon
Season	Winter
Growth Time	7 days
Sell Price	20g

Powdermelon Seeds are the reason Winter stopped being an empty month on the farm. No shop takes gold for them. They come out of the ground at Seed Spots, out of crates in the mines, off the raccoon family's shelf for a couple of Pine Cones, and out of a dozen other scattered places. The melon they raise takes a week and comes up through snow, which no ordinary crop will do, and a block of nine can fuse into a giant plant in the way the big crops of the warm seasons do. Almost every route to the seed is open only in the few weeks either side of Winter's start, so the gathering has to be finished before the planting begins. A farm that stocks up in late Fall has a field to water in Winter instead of a month of chores.

Growing

Seven days of watering take the seed to a cuttable melon, and cutting clears the tile. Nothing regrows, so a Winter field has to be sown again after each harvest.

Growing in Winter is the main appeal. Powdermelon comes up in snow on open farm soil, where the rest of Pierre's catalogue dies at the season change, and that makes it the only real vegetable field the cold months allow. Three full cycles fit inside Winter if the first goes in on the opening morning, and the last sowing has to be in the ground by the twenty-first.

A block of nine opens the other possibility. A fully grown, watered three by three square of powdermelon takes a small chance each night of collapsing into one giant plant, and the heap of melons an Axe knocks out of it is worth far more than the nine tiles held. Giant plants also stand through the cold without withering, so a Winter block that fuses can be left alone until there is time to break it open. The square has to sit on open farm ground, since Greenhouse beds, island soil and Garden Pots never produce one.

Because Winter is short, the whole square is best pressed in on a single morning. The nightly roll only begins once the last plant in the block has finished growing, and a block sown over several days throws away nights it cannot spare.

Buying

Nothing on a shop counter takes gold for this seed. Every route is a gathering route, and most of them close.

Seed Spots are the main one. The tufts and marked patches a Hoe breaks open give the packet up fairly often in late Fall and Winter, and the forest south of the farm and the ground around the mine entrance both carry plenty of them. Crates and barrels smashed in the Mines, the Skull Cavern and the Volcano Dungeon pay out occasionally, Golden Fishing Treasure Chests rather more often, and an Iridium Golem drops the packet about half the times it dies. A Mystery Box or Golden Mystery Box can hold one, and the first prize from the Prize Machine in the Mayor's Manor is a packet as well.

Every one of those routes is shut outside a window that opens near the end of Fall and closes three weeks into Winter. Gathering is therefore a late autumn job rather than a Winter one, and a farm that waits until the snow is down has already missed most of it.

Two routes stay open all year. The raccoon family's shop by the Giant Stump, which the wife runs once her first request has been met, trades a packet for two Pine Cones, and cones cost nothing but a shaken tree. That is the dependable supply, and it is why a chest of Pine Cones earns its space. Completing further raccoon requests widens what her shelf carries.

A Seed Maker is the other permanent route. One melon put through it comes back as packets, and that single melon is what ends the dependence on luck for good.

There is one last counter, and it sells the melon rather than the seed. Pierre keeps a booth at the Feast of the Winter Star, and a Powdermelon can be had there for a steep sum. In a pinch that buys a melon for the Seed Maker, and little else.

Uses

A Seed Maker is the melon's most useful destination on a farm that plans ahead, since one fruit buys an unlimited supply of its own seed.

Spare packets have a use in the craft room. Dropped into a dye pot at 2 Willow Lane they give orange, and dropped into the spool of a Sewing Machine with a dyeable garment in the feed they give brown instead. That is two colours out of one leftover packet.

The raccoon family's requests ask for farm goods in return for shop stock, and a Winter field is the easiest way to have something to offer them in a month when nothing else is growing.

Offering seed wins no friendship in the village. The melon is the better thing to carry into town.

Notes

Dig Seed Spots through the last week of Fall. The window closes early in Winter, and after that the raccoon shop is the only supply left.

Keep one melon out of the first harvest. A Seed Maker turns it into every later Winter's seed and removes the luck entirely.

Lay the Winter field out in blocks rather than strips. Only a filled square of nine can fuse, and the giant plant is the best thing the cold months will hand over.

All Seeds

Every entry in this group, with its key details.

Name	Grows	Season	Pierre
Acorn	Oak Tree	All	-
Amaranth Seeds	Amaranth	Fall	70g
Ancient Seeds	Ancient Fruit	Spring; Summer; Fall	-
Apple Sapling	Apple	Fall	4,000g
Apricot Sapling	Apricot	Spring	2,000g
Artichoke Seeds	Artichoke	Fall	30g (Year 2+)
Banana Sapling	Banana	All on Ginger Island; Summer in Stardew Valley	-
Bean Starter	Green Bean	Spring	60g
Beet Seeds	Beet	Fall	-
Blue Grass Starter	Blue Grass	Spring; Summer; Fall	-
Blueberry Seeds	Blueberry	Summer	80g
Bok Choy Seeds	Bok Choy	Fall	50g
Broccoli Seeds	Broccoli	Fall	-
Cactus Seeds	Cactus Fruit	All	-
Carrot Seeds	Carrot	Spring	-
Cauliflower Seeds	Cauliflower	Spring	80g
Cherry Sapling	Cherry	Spring	3,400g
Coffee Bean	-	Spring; Summer	-
Corn Seeds	Corn	Summer; Fall	150g
Cranberry Seeds	Cranberries	Fall	240g
Eggplant Seeds	Eggplant	Fall	20g
Fairy Seeds	Fairy Rose	Fall	200g
Fall Seeds	Blackberry, Common Mushroom, Hazelnut, or Wild Plum	Fall	-
Fiber Seeds	Fiber	All	-
Garlic Seeds	Garlic	Spring	40g (Year 2+)
Grape Starter	Grape	Fall	60g
Grass Starter	Grass	Spring; Summer; Fall	100g
Hops Starter	Hops	Summer	60g
Jazz Seeds	Blue Jazz	Spring	30g
Kale Seeds	Kale	Spring	70g
Mahogany Seed	Mahogany Tree	All	-
Mango Sapling	Mango	All on Ginger Island; Summer in Stardew Valley	-
Maple Seed	Maple Tree	All	-
Melon Seeds	Melon	Summer	80g
Mixed Flower Seeds	Varies	Spring Summer Fall	-
Mixed Seeds	Varies	Spring Summer Fall	-
Mossy Seed	Green Rain Tree	All	-
Mushroom Tree Seed	Mushroom Tree	All	-
Mystic Tree Seed	Mystic Tree	All	-
Orange Sapling	Orange	Summer	4,000g
Parsnip Seeds	Parsnip	Spring	20g
Peach Sapling	Peach	Summer	6,000g
Pepper Seeds	Hot Pepper	Summer	40g
Pine Cone	Pine Tree	All	-
Pineapple Seeds	Pineapple	All on Ginger Island; Summer in Stardew Valley	-
Pomegranate Sapling	Pomegranate	Fall	6,000g
Poppy Seeds	Poppy	Summer	100g
Potato Seeds	Potato	Spring	50g
Powdermelon Seeds	Powdermelon	Winter	-
Pumpkin Seeds	Pumpkin	Fall	100g
Qi Bean	Qi Fruit	All	-
Radish Seeds	Radish	Summer	40g
Rare Seed	Sweet Gem Berry	Fall	-
Red Cabbage Seeds	Red Cabbage	Summer	100g (Year 2+)
Rhubarb Seeds	Rhubarb	Spring	-
Rice Shoot	Unmilled Rice	Spring	40g
Spangle Seeds	Summer Spangle	Summer	50g
Spring Seeds	Wild Horseradish, Daffodil,; Leek, or Dandelion	Spring	-
Starfruit Seeds	Starfruit	Summer	-
Strawberry Seeds	Strawberry	Spring	-
Summer Seeds	Grape, Spice Berry,; or Sweet Pea	Summer	-
Summer Squash Seeds	Summer Squash	Summer	-
Sunflower Seeds	Sunflower	Summer; Fall	200g
Taro Tuber	Taro Root	All on Ginger Island; Summer in Stardew Valley	-
Tea Sapling	Tea Leaves	All	-
Tomato Seeds	Tomato	Summer	50g
Tulip Bulb	Tulip	Spring	20g
Wheat Seeds	Wheat	Summer; Fall	10g
Winter Seeds	Crocus, Crystal Fruit,; Snow Yam, or Winter Root	Winter	-
Yam Seeds	Yam	Fall	60g