VeggieHarvest

Muskmelons are often called cantaloupes, but they're not the same botanical variety. True cantaloupes are rarely grown in North America. Winter melons include honeydew and casaba. Like all cucurbits, melons need bees for pollination.

Where to Grow Melons

Because melons require a long, warm growing season, their best production occurs in the South and Southwest, where there is ample growing time. Home gardeners in cooler regions can usually do fairly well with melons if they start seed indoors a month or more ahead of planting out doors, but the vines need consistently warm days and night s to thrive. Melons are a warm-season crop, very tender to frost and light freezes. Plan an average of 2-6 plants per person. Melons generally take up enormous space, and should not be considered for the small vegetable plot.  There are compact varieties that produce tasty and prolific fruits.

Reccomended Varieties of Melons

- Cantaloupes - Mainerock Hybrid; Burpee Hybrid; Harper Hybrid; Saticoy Hybrid; Minnesota Midget (60 days).

- Watermelons - The newer refrigerator-size small hybrids are more satisfactory for the average home garden, especially in the Northeast. Sugar Baby; New Hampshire Midget; Lollipop, red and yellow.

Soil for Melon Growing

A sandy, light loam deeply enriched with manure and compost is ideal. Soil must be just slightly acidic: pH 6. Since the vines are planted in hills, good yields are realized by working a spadefull of well-rotted manure and fertilizer such as bone meal into each hill before planting. Melon rinds are good for compost; they decompose rapidly and are high in phosphorous and potassium.

Planting Melons

Germination in 7-10 days.
When - Because of the long growing season, start plants indoors 4 to 5 weeks before outdoor planting time. The soil must be warm and the weather settled with warm days and nights, as the plants are sensitive to cool. If nights are cool, use hot caps to protect the plants. Melons can be sown directly outside, but some gardeners report better germination with pre-sprouted seeds.

How - If you start melons indoors, use individual cells or peat pots, not flats, as the roots are too succulent to divide. When you direct sow, plant 4-5 seeds in a hill and then thin the appropriate spacing, depending on whether you train them on a trellis or let them spread on the ground. For direct sowing and transplants, cover seedlings with hot caps to protect from frost, speed growth, and keep out pests. The vines do best if planted in hills. Rows and hills should be set 5 to 6 feet apart each way, with 2 or 3 plants per hill. Thin to the 2 strongest plants in a week.

How Melons grow

Melons grow extensively broad, ground hugging vines with soft, attractive foliage. The flowers appear quite suddenly, and it is interesting to watch the tiny melons start to develop after the flower petals drop.

Cultivating Melons

To encourage side shoots, when seedlings have 3 leaves, pinch out the growing end. When new side shoots have 3 leaves, pinch out the central growing area again. When fruits begin to form, pinch back the vine to two leaves beyond the fruit. Make sure fruits on a trellis are supported by netting or pantyhose, and fruits on the ground vines are elevated by empty pots to prevent disease and encourage ripening.

The vines are heavy feeders, and also need adequate moisture as they start to develop. Troughs near the plants can be flooded for effective watering. For fertilizer, give each hill about 1/2 cup of 5-10-5 fertilizer, liquid manure or fish emulsion 3 weeks after planting, and again (if you can find the original hill) after flowers appear. Keep the hills well watered up to the time fruit starts to fill out. Since weeding and cultivating are such problems with sprawling vine crops, black plastic or thick mulch proves an excellent aid to keeping weeds out, soil moisture in, and melons off the ground as they develop. The plastic mulch should be placed on the ground and anchored before planting, then central holes cut for the hills, with a few extra slits to let rain and hose water filter through.

Harvesting Melons

3-3 1/2 months for cantaloupes; 3 months for midget watermelons.

- Cantaloupes - The easiest way to tell if they are ripe is a color test. The flesh between the netting turns from green to tan. Also, if the melon slips off the vine easily with a gentle tug, it is probably ripe.

- Watermelons - Determining ripeness takes talent. One method is thumping; a hollow dull sound when thumped with the thumb usually indicates ripeness. Or if the melon is turned over and the flesh is a deep yellow on the bottom, it is probably ripe.

Melon Pests

(Same as for Cucumber)
- Striped cucumber beetle (East Coast). Spotted cucumber beetle (West Coast): This is essentially the same pest, which changes its coat depending on which coast it chooses. Adults overwinter on garden debris, so good fall cleanup is the first step in control.
- Squash bug - Handpick adults and leaves bearing eggs. If boards are placed between rows in the evening, these insects will hide under them and can be destroyed in the early morning by uncovering and killing them.
- Vine borers - These pests are usually not seen until the damage is done. Good fall cleanup to destroy overwintering eggs is important.

Melon Diseases

Grow resistant varieties.