How to Grow a Variety of Melons
Some of the most popular types of melons are cantaloupe (also called muskmelon), watermelon and honeydew. In general melons are warm-season crops that require a fairly long time to mature. The best way to grow a variety of melons is to become familiar with the requirements for each type of melon, and plant it accordingly. Melons need quite a bit of space in the garden, so be sure you have plenty of room before you plant them. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Rototiller
- Compost
- Fertilizer
- Shovel
- Black plastic
- Melon seeds or seedlings for multiple kinds of melons
- Soaker hose
Instructions
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Start seeds indoors for all types of melons if you have a short growing season. This can give your plants several weeks of extra growing time, allowing them to develop fully before the end of the season. In warmer areas melons can be planted directly in the soil once the ground feels warm.
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Till the soil well. All types of melons need fertile soil, so mix in plenty of well-aged compost such as old chicken or horse manure, garden compost or worm castings. The soil should be free of all sprouting weeds.
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Cover the garden with black plastic if the soil is too cold for the melons. Melons are warm-season plants and will not grow well in cold soil. Use stones or other weights to hold the plastic in place. Use a garden thermometer to check the soil temperature, and plant when the soil is at least 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the plastic to make the hills, but return it and plant in holes through the plastic if temperatures are still too cool. You can also plant short-season melons such as Sugar Baby watermelons, Venus hybrid honeydews and Earlisweet cantaloupes if short summers are a problem.
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Make hills for the melons, and plant a single melon plant in each hill. If you are planting seeds plant several, then thin them down to the one or two strongest plants after a few weeks. Requirements differ slightly between the different kinds of melons, but a good size is a mounded area about 3 feet in diameter for each melon plant. The hills must be spaced far apart in order to give the melon plants plenty of room to grow, so leave about 6 or 7 feet between each hill. Planting the melons around the outside edge of the garden leaves more room for the other garden plants to grow. Cantaloupes need slightly less room than watermelons and honeydews, but all melons tend to sprawl and need plenty of space.
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Water your garden on a regular basis, if the weather is dry. Watermelons develop deep root systems and don't need water unless the weather is very dry, but cantaloupes need a consistent amount of moisture throughout the growing season in order to develop properly. Once honeydews are about the size of a tennis ball they only need watering if the leaves begin to look wilted. Soaker hoses laid around or between the hills are the best way to water your melons.
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Tips & Warnings
Pay attention to the specific needs of the melons you are planting, so that they will grow properly. Seedless watermelons, for example, must be planted next to seeded types for pollination to occur. The package or plant tag will tell you what it needs.
Do not plant melons too closely together, or they will not develop properly.
References
- Photo Credit Hemera Technologies/Photos.com/Getty Images
