"How's Your Melons Doin'?"

[digitS']

I don't have a story of a colorful local character to relate but I do have a picture:

What you got??

Steve

 

[seedcorn]

Mine are just starting to bloom. Dang, my whole garden is SO behind....

 

[Smart Red]

Don't complain about being late. Mine are still in the packet. Never got the tiller working on the space they were to go.

 

[majorcatfish]

The watermelons have slowed down and the cantilopes were a planted late,will be interesting to see what they look like when I get home Friday....

 

[thistlebloom]

My Sarahs Choice are blooming. I'm gambling on this season continuing to be weird and maybe go all the way to October before frost. The seeds were given to me by a local gardener, I've never grown them before.

Yours look great Steve!

 

[Lavender2]

Nice looking melons @digitS' !

I am seriously trying cantaloupe again this year. I grew them years ago, not a great crop, but I always got a few. Several disappointing years put them on hold for a while.
Dh was not impressed with the MN midgets last year, so bigger it is! Maybe.
I'm hoping Hearts of Gold does not break my heart.

I had pretty good size starts in the ground May 17. 90 days is Aug 15. I might need a refund.
I have itty bitty melons starting, the vines look good.
What are the chances of a melon by our average frost, Sept 15?

One more question - does it help to fertilize more, early in the season, or are they really just dependent on the heat kicking in early?

 

[Smart Red]

Steve, have you ever considered "Hot Caps" for those early melon starts? Also easy to make your own from milk jugs.

 

[digitS']

The cool often lingers so long in the spring ... I'm miles from the gardens and try not to show up every day. I'd hate to do twice/day covering and uncovering ... unless the windstorms blow things away ...

Good Melons Years are nearly unknown to me, @Lavender2 ... Questions? I'd have to review the literature .

Steve

 

[digitS']

I wasn't happy with MN midget, either. I'm sorry to say that because it seemed to grow okay for me. Others sometimes died!

I have stood in my melon patch and hoped my garden visitor would not notice dead melon plants. No, they didn't have to freeze. Our interminable cool, windy June weather would kill them!

Except, once I began to grow Passport galia melons, they have never failed. Tampering with success, and faced with fewer places to buy the seeds, Diplomat galia melon is what I've got this year.

Heart of Gold was once grown commercially around here. I think it should do well for you, @Lavender2 . I never stopped at the roadside stand to buy one so I don't know what they were like. No one has grown melons commercially in this valley for decades, that I know about.

After I moved here, for many years, I was making regular trips thru the Oregon melon country. It's about 250 miles south. Their melons were on display in our markets - taunting me ... well cowboy, I'm no longer melonless. So there!

Steve

 

[so lucky]

They will taste all the sweeter with victory over the climate!