Usually he'll have just enough to make a decent amount of melon jam, but this year's rain has created so much that his Plumb Street backyard looked like an alien egg farm.

"I got the seeds from a man in Bathurst a few years ago and I planted about six seeds and I've grown over 30 of them," he said. "The heaviest is 13.5 kilograms so on average I have about a quarter of a tonne of fruit."

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The melons may look like a watermelon, but inside the flesh ranges from light green to white and is only really suitable as jam.

A sentimental favourite for many older Australians jam melons make a sweet, transparent golden jam that sets easily due to their high pectin content.

They are often combined with other fruits such as lemon, orange, passionfruit, pineapple, berries and ginger to produce a more strongly flavoured jam.

There are so many of them that it took two car boots full to transfer them to Eileen Read's Mount Errol Street home.

"We have too many and we're keen to give them away," he said.

To get a melon call Eileen Read on 0407 137 417.