Position Full sun. Frost tolerant No. Feeding After plants set fruit, feed twice, at two week intervals, with a water soluble plant food.
Companions Marigold, Sweetcorn, Nasturtium and Oregano. Spacing Single Plants: 90cm 2' 11" each way minimum Rows: 90cm 2' 11" with 90cm 2' 11" row gap minimum Sow and Plant Best direct sown once soil has warmed and there is no longer a risk of frost. Notes Keep moist by watering regularly. Honeydews have a greenish-white rind and light green fruit. As members of the gourd family, melons can be slightly larger than a baseball or grow to more than pounds.
Rind color varies from pale white to dark green. The fruit can be pale yellow, light green or bright orange. Seeds fill the hollow centers. Try planting both cantaloupes and honeydews this year. They're easy to grow and are planted the same way. The difference comes at harvest. Melons do best in warm weather.
The soil needs to be warm and dry, so plant them after the danger of frost has passed. Some gardeners plant cantaloupes and honeydews through holes in a landscape fabric or black plastic. The material traps heat and warms the soil to encourage growth at the beginning of the season. The fabric also keeps vines clean and deters weeds. In areas where a chill lingers, start the seeds indoors three to four weeks before transplanting them outdoors.
Use individual peat containers to avoid disturbing the roots. Plant melon seeds in six- to inch mounds of soil. Sow three to five seeds two inches apart and about one inch deep. Space the mounds two feet apart in rows that are five feet apart. When the seedlings sprout leaves, thin them to to inches apart. Melon vines take up a lot of space and the distance allows air to circulate freely.
Apply an all-purpose fertilizer every two to three weeks. Cantaloupes and honeydews benefit from slightly acidic soil with a pH of 6. Each month, add a few inches of compost to the root areas. The vines require a lot of water, so give them up to two inches of water each week. Trickle irrigation at the soil level is best. Water the melons in the morning, so the leaves are dry by evening.
That helps to prevent fungal diseases. While both male and female flowers grow on the same melon vine, bees are necessary for pollination and subsequent fruiting. The first blooms are the male flowers. They can't set fruit and will fall off. The female flowers appear a short time later.
The seedlings are typically planted on mounds three to a mound spaced 2 feet apart in rows 6 feet apart. Thin the fruit to three melons per vine, as this will result in more nutrients and thus sugars pumped into each melon.
Sugars are produced in the leaves through the process of photosynthesis, and then pumped into the fruit — so the more lush the leafy growth, the higher the Brix rating. To encourage strong growth, blend 4 to 6 inches of composted manure into your melon beds prior to planting.
Some gardeners elect to plant melons right into their compost pile, which not only provides loads of nutrients, but a bit of extra heat. Keeping melon leaves lush also requires copious amounts of irrigation.
During the final weeks of ripening, however, excess water dilutes the sugar content of the fruit. So as the fruit approaches its full size, cut back on irrigation, providing only enough water to keep the leaves from completely wilting.
It is normal at this stage for some of the older leaves to turn brown. Even if you do everything else right, no melon is sweet if picked immature. Signs of ripeness include a fruity aroma, a slight softening of the rind, and a hollow sound when you strike the fruit with your knuckle. But the sure sign is how easily the fruit detaches from the vine. However, the highest sugar content is achieved when fruit detaches from the vine on its own or if this does not occur, when the vine becomes shriveled and dry where it is attached to the melon.
The risk at this stage, of course, is that birds and other critters may start eating the fruit before you do. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. I live in Hesperia, CA. I know the soil is alkaline and has a smattering of caliche but even amended the vines do poorly.
I live in a well sun lit area.. Check out the new Million Gardens Movement website and get gardening! Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly.
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