Hi I'm Trisha, an organic gardener I grow organically...
For healthy and safe food supply, for clean and sustainable environment,
for an enjoyable and rewarding experience.
Melons,
the quintessential taste of summer. Don't do a hit or miss in the grocery aisles.
Play your own sweet melons. Melons are cucurbits like cucumbers, squash and
pumpkins.
Like their relatives melons enjoy a long warm seasons.
There is an astounding variety of melons from familiar friends like
honeydew and cantaloupe
to more exotic varieties like Jaune Canary
and Piel de Sapo. If you live in a long growing season
you can start your melons from seed. If you have a shorter season
you probably want to start with transplants but the shorter season
varieties
like Rocky Ford and Siven are easy to grow. When planting melons directly it's
important to wait until the ground has warmed up
to 65 - 70 degrees Fahrenheit. If you want to plant it sooner
you can lay down some plastic mulch which a warm soil.
The other way to plant melons earlier is to start them inside.
Like all cucurbits they don't like their roots disturbed.
So use a biodegradable pot like the Cow Pots, Peat Pots or Coco Pots.
Another transplant method that works well as a soil block.
The pots or blocks should be at least two inches to avoid stunting the growth
of the melons.
Start the plants on your last frost date.
They'll be ready to set out in two to four weeks when they have 2-3 true leaves.
By that time the soil should be warmed up enough. You can either plant melons in
hills or trellis them.
If you want to plant them in hills, direct seed 6 per hill
and then thin to two or three of the strongest seedlings
when they have two to three true leaves. If you're planting from transplants
plant two to three per hill. Your hills
should be spaced three to six feet apart. If you are trellising the plants,
space a foot apart along the trellis. The key to growing sweet melons is to
make sure that the plants aren't stressed
during the growing season. They can be stressed with foliar diseases,
excesses a water or not enough water,
poor nutrition,
weeds and insect pests. Foliar diseases can be avoided
by making sure the melons aren't crowded and practicing proper crop rotation.
Don't plant curbits in the same spot for three years.
Use a floating row cover like Agribon
early in the season to keep flea beetles and cucumber beetles off the plants.
Makes sure you take the row cover off when the plants bloom
so they can be pollinated. Later on in the season
be on the lookout for squash bugs. Check around the base of the plant's
on the undersides of the leaves and pick of any that you find and destroy them.
If you have a aphid troubles you can blast them off with water
using a strong stream like the one from this bug blaster.
If you still have troubles try an organic insecticide
labeled to control aphids one like this Insecticidal Soap
won't harm beneficial insects. Keep your beds free from weeds
and be sure know how to balanced fertilizer, this one from Down to Earth
works really well. Make sure the melons get even moisture when they're young,
up to the size of a tennis ball. After the fruit has sized up
cut back the water. It's better to water the plants deeply
once or twice a week instead of a light sprinkle every day.
Too much water will make the melons watery
and tasteless. The melons are ready to harvest when they have a sweet fragrance
and the little end turns brown
and they should be very easy to take off the vine. The netted varieties
will often take on a golden color, this one is still very green.
Enjoy your sweet delicious homegrown organic melons,
and grow organic for life.
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