Looking for your pumpkin, melon, and cantaloupe tips...

[WildBird]

You should start them indoors NOW and transplant next month. They ARE native, but you probably are planting them directly late. I am putting in pumpkin seeds in the next week outdoors.
ALSO, amend your soil. The easiest way is to rake up and rake IN grass clippings.
If you have Any leftover leaves that need to be cleaned up, please use those, too.
Leaves are one of the best soil amenders.
Darwin observed that earthworms create about an inch of soil/year from leaves left alone sitting on top of rock/soil/undisturbed.
One of the BEST ways to fix your soil, especially if you or a friend has a truck, is to buy "rained on hay." Hay grown for horses cannot be easily sold if it has been rained on, and other livestock owners don't care for it, either, so it's a waste.
Still, a hay grower may search for a buyer, and it breaks down very easily.
Don't be concerned right now about seeds, bc it won't be going to seed until July/August.
You won't need more than 4 bales for a good sized garden area, and you can plant potatoes and squash directly in it.

heavy soils you must be sure to water enough to keep the moisture levels up high enough. we have mostly clay where we normally grow some of our squash and they do much better when given regular watering (about every two or three days) if it hasn't rained enough. melons the same. i had them planted last year in fairly compact garden soil here of mostly clay and they did great. just made sure they got watered enough.

thanks! hope you get some good squash and melons this year.

Thank you both! Great info!

 

[john]

Very rich soil, plenty of heat & space helps a lot. I've had great luck starting 3 weeks early in pots. If watermelons are part of the 'melon' group, I've grown bumper crops of Cream of Saskatchewan and Petite Yellow. And I'm rather north so that is something. I had so many watermelons I was giving them to neighbours. Those varieties were early and tasted great. Winter Luxury was a delicious pie pumpkin type for me too, and not too big either, so they all matured in time. Smooth, creamy flesh.

And I'm just the opposite could not grow a watermelon if you paid me but cantaloupe just one plant will do me and the neighbors a summer with all we can eat.

 

[ducks4you]

We should treat crops like melons like the tropical plants that they are. Try to water with warm or room temperature water so as not to shock their tender roots, as you grow them.