Melon is a wonderful treat on its own, but it can also be used in fruit salads. Cantaloupe can be paired with cottage cheese for breakfast or ice cream for dessert, and can even be made into sorbet or baked. Watermelon with cucumber and mint is a popular summer salad, and watermelon also makes a great base for smoothies. Honeydew is also great as a sorbet or smoothie ingredient, and can also be made into salsa. Once you grow melons, you're constantly looking for new ways to prepare them.
Family | Cucurbitaceae |
Growing zones | N/A |
Growing season(s) | warm weather |
Spacing | 18 inches if growing vertically; 2 to 3 feet if not |
Start indoors or direct sow | direct sow |
Indoor sowing date | N/A |
Earliest outdoor planting | after last frost |
Soil temperature | 70° to 95° |
Fall planting | N/A |
Sun needs | 8+ hours |
Water needs | high |
Harvest category | all season |
Fun Fact: | Watermelon contains more lycopene than tomatoes. Lycopene has been shown to reduce risk for certain types of cancer and heart attack, making watermelon not only a delicious summertime treat but also a healthy one. |
Snapshot | Growing on sprawling vines, melons require a lot of space. If space is limited, grow small-fruited varieties in raised beds or containers, making sure to set up a trellis for them. Plant seeds as soon as possible in the spring, as melons do best with a long, hot growing season. |
Starting | Sow seeds 1 inch deep, 6 inches apart, then thin seedlings to final spacing. Don’t plant the seeds in cool, wet soil or they will not germinate. Amend the planting area with compost, and mulch seedlings to conserve moisture. |
Growing | Use drip irrigation to keep melons well watered throughout the season. If you’re growing melons vertically, train the vines as they grow; support developing fruits with hammocks made of old T-shirts. After three to five fruits have developed on one vine, cut the tip off the vine to encourage the vine to ripen the fruit already present instead of producing more fruit. |
Harvesting and Storing | Cantaloupe and honeydew change color and slip off the vine with a gentle tug. The skin of watermelons will start to turn from shiny to dull as ripening nears. Look for a tendril nearest the stem of the watermelon. When that tendril has completely dried to brown, shut off irrigation and wait about 1 week. Then harvest. Time your harvest during a dry spell if possible, because this will concentrate the sugars in the fruit. |
Common Problem | Deformed fruit can be caused by a lack of pollination. Sometimes bees haven’t found your melon flowers yet; just give it time. But if this continues to be an issue, consider hand-pollinating (see here ). Blossomed rot is also common in melons. Keep moisture consistent to prevent this condition. Remove deformed fruit to signal the plant to produce more. |
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