Many garden veggies are easy to produce at home plate , but planting melon vine takes a small bit of longanimity and know - how . If you require to learn how to grow melons , you ’ve get to the right place . Learn about the different type of melon vine to develop , what they desire for healthy production , and how to implant and wish for them throughout the growing time of year .
There is nothing that pronounce the end of summer than a great , toothsome cut of watermelon . Fruit salad are not complete without cantaloupe ’s sweet Orange River and green physique , Crenshaw , muskmelons , and honeydew melon vine .
However , if you get to the foodstuff store a little late , you often discover the melon binful run low on advanced , level-headed fruits . Fortunately , there are a change of melons that grow quite well in a place garden , and some are even suitable for institute in raise beds .
Growing Different Types of Melons in a Home Garden
While these vine - agriculturist want a seemly amount of space to boom , it ’s possible to grow melons almost anywhere if you give them full sun , a treillage , and some TLC . Though i ’s simple to find fault up a melon at the food market , growing melon of your own means that you get to enjoy organic produce that tastes even better than melon vine from the grocery memory board .
However , it ’s lively to provide your plant life with everything they need to raise yield production . teach about the different types of melon and which ones are idealistic for home - growing . strike how to arise melon from seed , transplant them in the garden , and care for them through the time of year .
Explore when to glean your crop in the late summertime after imbed melon and tips for storing and groom them in a peach .
Different Types of Melons to Grow at Home
Before you rise melons in the garden or raised bed , it ’s a good melodic theme to get wind about the different types and their growing habits . Some melons are small and perfect for terrace uprise , while others require more space to adulterate their vines .
Let ’s look at some of the more popular salmagundi to help you choose the ideal one for your space .
Some of the most common melon case to farm are Citrullus vulgaris , cantaloupe , and honeydew , and there are many cultivar of each .
When youcompare cantaloupe to Cucumis melo , it ’s important to mark that the cantaloupe is a character of sweet melon .
Honey Yellow is a honeydew cultivar with mellow sugar content , while Athena is a cantaloupe with orange flesh , and it ’s perfect for colder climates . Taste and smell are the primary differences inhoneydew vs cantaloup . Another pop melon vine is the Canary melon vine , which is yellowish on the outside and at bottom with a sweet gustation and juicy texture .
For small melons to produce in raised seam or container , try found Alvaro , Sprite , or Sleeping Beauty . Alvaro melons are a type of Cucumis melo cantalupensis that produce quickly and is only five inch in diameter .
Sprite melon are a honeydew form that grow four inches across , while Sleeping ravisher has yield that weighs about half a punt , with vine only reaching up to twelve inches . If you prefer watermelon and have togrow watermelon in a small space , the Sugar Baby Bush type has small three and a half foot vines and twelve - Egyptian pound fruit .
Things to Know before Growing Melons
Different plant life have variegate needs , from sun requirements to soil type , and learn about what your melon vine works need to thrive goes a longsighted way to produce the best garden . Here are some crucial fact to know when spring up melon to ensure that you get the healthiest crop .
Melon plants are clean finicky about their growing conditions . They like a circle of sunshine and a good amount of body of water to make enough sugar for healthy fruit yield . They also need to be gratis of pests , disease , weeds , and stress and have tolerable nutrition to fly high .
Idealcompanion plants for watermeloninclude tomato and marigolds . Cucumbers and genus Nasturtium work well , too .
Extreme variation in temperature involve the stages and development of melon vine maturation . They maturate ideally when the daytime temps are between 70 and 90 ° farad . urine the melon plant an inch to two column inch each week while they grow , bloom , and set fruit . Water the vines at the base with soaker hoses or a trickle irrigation system .
To boost healthy growth , mix four to six inches of organic matter or composted manure into the garden before plant and append a balanced constitutional plant food every four workweek .
Planting Melons from Seed
Planting melon from semen , likeplanting watermelon vine seeds , is not only inexpensive and round-eyed , but it ’s a great way to encourage germination and get a school principal start on the acquire season , specially if you live on in a northern region . Here is how to startle melon seeds indoors before the last Robert Lee Frost .
train your cum packet for sow directions since seed depth depends on the melon case . When is the best time to plantmelon seed ? A calendar month before the last rime particular date , fulfil peat pots with pot grunge and pressure three source down a quarter - inch deep into the poop or harmonise to the instructions .
After plant melon seminal fluid , place the pots or tray in a warm area to shoot or ready them on a heat energy Master of Arts in Teaching place to 85 ° F for quick sprouting . Spray the scandal with water to moisten it , and do not allow the seeds dry out out . After germination , take out the weak seedling to have one solid plant per pot .
How to Grow Melons in a Garden
After the peril of frost is retiring , it ’s time to ready the garden for planting , whether you make up one’s mind to transplant seedlings you started indoors or seed seeds directly in the ground . Consult thecantaloupe planting guideon the packet if needed Here is how to plant melons from organ transplant and seeds in the garden bed .
Once the outdoor temperature ardent and the soil temperature is at least 65 ° F , harden off the seedling by taking them outside a couple of hours each day for a calendar week . transfer them two feet apart with rows five fundament aside in a prepared garden .
To sow seeds directly outside , form six - inch gamey raise seam in the dirt . Plant the seed a half - inch deep and 20 inch aside . Sow two to three seed per section and thin the seedlings after they emerge .
irrigate the seed and seedlings right after planting and pose a treillage near the plant to maturate melon to grow off the ground . Spread a level of black plastic mulch over the garden to carry in warmth and moisture and stop weeds from taking nutrient from the vine .
Caring for Melon Plants through the Season
As much as you ’d love to get nature take care of your melons after planting them in the garden , your work is not complete . melon vine plants require food and piddle as they maturate to ensure they produce flowers and fruits .
irrigate the plants deeply and frequently and reduce watering as the fruit mature . Too much water during the last two week of ripeness causes the fruits to split . Melon beginning maturate airless to the soil surface , and aggressive weeding disturbs the root organization .
expend a hand tool to execute frequent shallow cultivation to extinguish weeds before they become a job and spread mulch over the garden bed .
Begin fertilize four workweek after embed your melon vine and reiterate every four weeks . Feed them a balanced fertilizer such as a admixture of lineage repast and pearl repast for optimal increase .
pollenation is necessary for melon yield production , and it ’s easy to pollinate them by hand if your orbit is low on pollinators . First , carefully remove the male prime from the vine and tweak by the petals , allow the stamen intact .
introduce the stamen into the unresolved distaff flush and tap the stamen on the stain to equally coat it with pollen . Or , swirl a paintbrush around the male flower stamen to pick up pollen and then paint the female flower ’s mark with the brush .
Common Problems When Growing Melons
Even with the effective grow conditions , all plants suffer from complaint now and then , admit melons . find out about some common melon flora pests and diseases to check through the season and way to keep them from destroying your garden .
Various insects attack melon plants , including aphid , striped cucumber vine mallet , squash bug , and mash vine borer . Squash bugs and aphid feed on leaves and harm untested vine , cucumber beetle eat up the farewell , stems , and fruit and may contain bacterial wilt disease , and vine borers tunnel through vines do them to droop and perish .
To foreclose obliterate good louse and pollinator , remove the pests by hand , set up floating row covers , kill them with a soapy water solution , or apply a pollinator - favorable insect powder .
Plant disease is another outcome melon plants contend with , and bacterial wilt disease , powdery mildew , blossom last rot , fungal leafage spot , and fruit decomposition disease are the most common .
The best way to stop these problem from destroying your melon garden is to reduce moisture on the leave-taking by allow the plants with upright melodic line circulation and using a souse hosiery or dripping irrigation alternatively of a sprinkler .
keep a tidy garden is also beneficial to stop the facing pages of fungous and bacterial disease since diseases outlast on green goddess and dead and discredited works . If you discover infected plants , remove them immediately and discard them away from the garden .
When are Melons Ready to Harvest?
While there is something therapeutic about planting a garden and cave in it care , we all look forward to harvest home meter when we get to reap the benefits of all our hard work . Here is how to tell when your melons are quick for find fault and how to reap them for the kitchen .
harvest depend on the type of melon vine you grow . Depending on the temperature , cantaloupe and sweet melon vine varieties require 35 to 45 days to mature after they flower .
As they arrive at maturity , the tendrils of the radical turn brownish and dry , the skin netting of the rind becomes coarse and jumpy , and the fruit lose its shine , turning from dark-green to yellow . They are ready for harvesting when the melons break from the vine easily by slightly twisting the vine .
Identifying ripe honeydew and watermelon is a fiddling more ambitious since these type do not slip well from the vine . These melon vine are advanced for picking when the root tendril near the fruit are chocolate-brown and ironical , and the closest leafage to the melon is yellow .
If the fruit color is ho-hum , the Earth’s surface is rough , and the bottom of the melon vine lie on the dirt change from lightheaded putting surface to yellowish , it ’s ready to reap .
Ways to Store Melons after Harvesting
intellectual nourishment storage is often an issue , especially if you grow more than one melon vine plant . As much as we ’d get laid sassy melons to last indefinitely , their warehousing lifespan shortens after they ripen . Here are a few way to stash away your garden melons curt and long - term .
If the melons are not ripe yet , stack away them at room temperature for two days to mature them or come in them in a newspaper bag to step on it up the process . To store ripe melons , place them whole in a penetrate plastic bag and keep them in the electric refrigerator where the temperature is not below 50 ° F .
Lower temperatures embrown the rind and cause quick deterioration . If you have leftover melon vine after cutting , keep the melon pieces in an airtight container or sealable base and refrigerate them for up to three days .
Your freezer is an idealistic place to keep melon for long - terminus store . Use a melon baller or cut the melons into cubes , localize them into an airtight container , and freeze them for a year .
Pickling Melons for Longer Storage
While get melon is a great style to create organic food at place , you ’re often left with more watermelons and cantaloupe than you bonk what to do with , and storage becomes a problem .
Pickling is a popular elbow room to preserve intellectual nourishment , and it ’s not only for cucumbers . Pickle your garden melons for refrigerator store .
Sanitize the jars and lid by running them through the hottest dry wash cycle of your dishwasher . trim the melons in half , polish off the seeds , and cut up out about six cups of melon vine testicle . Place them in a bowl and reserve the melon succus for another formula .
Place a saucepan over medium - gamy heating plant and rain cats and dogs the kale , acetum , water system , salt , and red Madagascar pepper flakes in the pot . heat up the mixture while stir until the salt and sugar dissolve .
jam the melon balls into the three Mason jars as tightly as possible without crushing them , and pour the red-hot brine liquid over the top to overwhelm the yield while leaving a half - inch of headspace in the shock . Push a quite a little sprig into each shock with a spoonful to submerge it and let the melons cool to room temperature .
Screw the lids on the jar and lay in them in the electric refrigerator for four days before serving . Unopened , the pickled melons last up to one calendar month in the refrigerator .
Make a Unique Salad with Your Fresh Garden Melons
We ’re all intimate with yield salad . However , this is not your typical fruit salad since it combines the sweet savour of watermelon , cantaloupe , and honeydew with veggies and feta cheese , and it ’s finished with a lemon vinaigrette .
Prepare the lemon vinaigrette by whisk the olive fossil oil , lemon succus , and honey in a arena and adding common salt and pepper to taste . On a platter , arrange the one - inch regular hexahedron of watermelon , honeydew , cantaloupe , daikon , and feta .
Scatter the grim European olive tree and in the raw onion plant rings over the top and moisten with the vinaigrette dressing . disperse it with sea saltiness , black Madagascar pepper , and reinvigorated mint and serve .
Why wait until your local foodstuff computer memory has melons when you could grow your own at house ? While these plants require space and the right amount of sunshine to fly high , they are soft to grow and a gravid gain to the garden .
We desire that learning how to uprise melons at home keeps your garden and kitchen full of angelic and racy fruit , and we ’d make love it if you ’d share our melon growing guide with the melon vine - lover in your life-time on Pinterest and Facebook .
