majorcatfish
Garden Master
just dropping by...
thought i would add to this melon conversation, over the years have grown pretty much every type of melon. cantaloupes are our favorite but just not any kind, strictly grow "Escorial" it's a French hybrid found these little jewels at Johnny's seeds..
this year we only planted 8 seedlings compared to the usual 12-15, this year was a much scaled back garden due to taking a early april vacation could not count on the kids to come up and water all the seedlings...yes we are finally empty netters....YES!!!!
oops got off track there of a moment ..
they do like the warmer weather and lots of sun, once they start coming on you better be ready to eat melon.
you know when to pick it it's like popping a piece of cantaloupe drizzled in honey.
guess the best way to know the melon is ready is to walk the patch every day after 70 days, if you smell cantaloupe you better start looking. you have a ripe one"S". and hope that you dont get a weeks worth of rain other was they will split on you.
found this one after work today a little trim work and it's going in the lunchbox for work tomorrow, yesterday/today received .50" of rain...bad timing for them.
when to plant....
personally i would start them indoors a month before the soil gets to 65* <you have to know your hardness zone, and this is not perfect every year to go by> just a rule of thumb.
we live in 7a that means last day of frost is around April 12th.not we have had to many frosts/snow after that day. It's your garden you now best when to plant.
hint for you cooler climate people know ahead of time where your going to plant them, stake out where your going to plant them and add your fertilizer and a way to water them...hint hint soaker hose and lay down some black plastic before hand. just like a lot of strawberry growers do.
For you warmer people just add fertilizer and soaker.
prefer to prep the hole ahead of time 20" diameter with a couple good handfuls of 13-13-13 and make my moat.
when to water...
water water thought out the growing season.
of course that all depends on your weather.. keep an eye on your local weather if it's going to rain no need to water, rain water is so much better for your garden.. but that's a whole another thread.
once your melon are starting to ripen you need to start applying the right amount of water to them...keep an eye on the 10 day weather forecast...
personally i like making moats around most of my plants before hand planting, 99% of the main garden is soaker hoses. the moats are great if you hand water or soaker it keeps the water right at the root area.
flowering/pollination....
always get a chuckle over this one when explaining flowering on a melon vine...will keep this rated PG.
it's like a single female <flower> going to a bar and 20 male <flowers> trying to hit on her. those pollinators<bees etc. > just go from one flower to another and hopefully it strikes gold just because you see a ton of flower does not mean all of them are going to produce.... so the rate is 20 guys trying hit that 1 girl..
that wing man aka "the bee" some how gets sidetrack....
pests...
in my expertise it has been either the stripped cucumber beetle or the leafhoppers that bite and infect the vines.
here's my personal way to deal with this.. yes I do use chemical warfare on occasions but I do this wisely. I go out in the middle of the night and spray...guess that's a plus for having insomnia...
in the middle of the night all the good pollinators are snug in their beds and the flowers are are all closed, best time to zap all the little bad overnight campers. make sure you the underside of the leaves as well since that's where all the evil bugs are sleeping at. and if you want to go bee friendly that's even better.
harvesting.....
lets step back in time, me personally like to keep an eye thought-out the growing season and will keep looking for baby melons and put a marker where their are such as a 2' stake, the canape can get over whelming and obscure where a melon is.
as the melon ripens you will notice that the webbing will start shrinking and the melon will start turning from a dull brown to a light golden color, and the tendril near the melon turns brown. time to pick one and start judging ripeness...... don't wait for it to fall on the vine, just cut it off with a little of the stem on it...
preserving...
if you have a amply harvest, dehydrate it nothing like a melon chew in the middle of winter...
well thats my personal 2 cents worth
yes i am the major
hug and kiss's to all my northwest clan members...
thought i would add to this melon conversation, over the years have grown pretty much every type of melon. cantaloupes are our favorite but just not any kind, strictly grow "Escorial" it's a French hybrid found these little jewels at Johnny's seeds..
this year we only planted 8 seedlings compared to the usual 12-15, this year was a much scaled back garden due to taking a early april vacation could not count on the kids to come up and water all the seedlings...yes we are finally empty netters....YES!!!!
oops got off track there of a moment ..
they do like the warmer weather and lots of sun, once they start coming on you better be ready to eat melon.
you know when to pick it it's like popping a piece of cantaloupe drizzled in honey.
guess the best way to know the melon is ready is to walk the patch every day after 70 days, if you smell cantaloupe you better start looking. you have a ripe one"S". and hope that you dont get a weeks worth of rain other was they will split on you.
found this one after work today a little trim work and it's going in the lunchbox for work tomorrow, yesterday/today received .50" of rain...bad timing for them.
when to plant....
personally i would start them indoors a month before the soil gets to 65* <you have to know your hardness zone, and this is not perfect every year to go by> just a rule of thumb.
we live in 7a that means last day of frost is around April 12th.not we have had to many frosts/snow after that day. It's your garden you now best when to plant.
hint for you cooler climate people know ahead of time where your going to plant them, stake out where your going to plant them and add your fertilizer and a way to water them...hint hint soaker hose and lay down some black plastic before hand. just like a lot of strawberry growers do.
For you warmer people just add fertilizer and soaker.
prefer to prep the hole ahead of time 20" diameter with a couple good handfuls of 13-13-13 and make my moat.
when to water...
water water thought out the growing season.
of course that all depends on your weather.. keep an eye on your local weather if it's going to rain no need to water, rain water is so much better for your garden.. but that's a whole another thread.
once your melon are starting to ripen you need to start applying the right amount of water to them...keep an eye on the 10 day weather forecast...
personally i like making moats around most of my plants before hand planting, 99% of the main garden is soaker hoses. the moats are great if you hand water or soaker it keeps the water right at the root area.
flowering/pollination....
always get a chuckle over this one when explaining flowering on a melon vine...will keep this rated PG.
it's like a single female <flower> going to a bar and 20 male <flowers> trying to hit on her. those pollinators<bees etc. > just go from one flower to another and hopefully it strikes gold just because you see a ton of flower does not mean all of them are going to produce.... so the rate is 20 guys trying hit that 1 girl..
that wing man aka "the bee" some how gets sidetrack....
pests...
in my expertise it has been either the stripped cucumber beetle or the leafhoppers that bite and infect the vines.
here's my personal way to deal with this.. yes I do use chemical warfare on occasions but I do this wisely. I go out in the middle of the night and spray...guess that's a plus for having insomnia...
in the middle of the night all the good pollinators are snug in their beds and the flowers are are all closed, best time to zap all the little bad overnight campers. make sure you the underside of the leaves as well since that's where all the evil bugs are sleeping at. and if you want to go bee friendly that's even better.
harvesting.....
lets step back in time, me personally like to keep an eye thought-out the growing season and will keep looking for baby melons and put a marker where their are such as a 2' stake, the canape can get over whelming and obscure where a melon is.
as the melon ripens you will notice that the webbing will start shrinking and the melon will start turning from a dull brown to a light golden color, and the tendril near the melon turns brown. time to pick one and start judging ripeness...... don't wait for it to fall on the vine, just cut it off with a little of the stem on it...
preserving...
if you have a amply harvest, dehydrate it nothing like a melon chew in the middle of winter...
well thats my personal 2 cents worth
yes i am the major
hug and kiss's to all my northwest clan members...
Last edited:
Dakota Sisters!
why.
