One of the greatest tasty treats of summer is a sweet, vine-ripened melon picked from your own garden. The quality is unsurpassed and will put to shame the bland shipping melons found in your local supermarket. Additionally, you have a much wider choice of varieties if you grow your own—from the tried-and-true cantaloupe to the more uncommon crenshaw, ananas, and galia. Lots of folks think that they can’t grow melons if they live in an area with short, cool summers, but that’s not the case. Melons can grow well in most parts of the lower 48 states. If I can successfully grow melons in central Maine, then almost anyone can do the same. The trick is picking the correct variety and getting your plants off to the right start.
Start your seeds indoors to ensure that you kick off the season with the strongest plants possible. You can direct-sow if you have to, but germination issues are more common with direct-sown plants as are problems with pests—such as cutworms, which love to feast on new melon seedlings. Sow, instead, two or three seeds ¼ inch deep in 50-cell flats or in 2- to 3-inch-diameter pots. The trick is to start the seeds no more than a month before transplanting; it’s much better to wait than to have oversize plants, which are fragile and prone to transplant shock. Maintain a temperature between 80°F and 90°F (using a seedling heat mat), and keep the soil moist but not wet until the seeds germinate. Once they sprout, you can drop the heat-mat temperature down to 75°F until the plants have put on a couple of sets of true leaves, which lets you know that they’re ready to transplant outside.
After the danger of frost has passed and the weather is warm and settled, set the transplants 18 inches apart in rows that are 6 feet apart. Immediately water the plants, preferably with a fish-emulsion fertilizer (which is a great organic option that won’t burn the tender transplants), to give them an extra boost. Many gardeners, including myself, plant their melons through black agricultural plastic or other dark-colored mulch options. These mulches warm the soil, hasten maturity, and reduce weed pressure—all of which are issues that can be the cause of melon-growing failure.
The most destructive pest of melons is the striped cucumber beetle. It can quickly destroy young plants as well as transmit bacterial leaf blight. The best control is to use floating row covers, which physically exclude the pest from your melon patch but allow rain and sunshine to reach the plants. Row covers should be installed immediately after planting, before the beetle can infest the plants. Hoops (to hold the covers aloft) are not needed. Using row covers is more effective and a lot less effort than spraying or handpicking insect pests. Additionally, they offer a few degrees of frost protection, and they accumulate heat—creating a mini greenhouse, of sorts—so the plants grow faster and mature earlier. This is key when growing melons in cool regions. Remove the covers when the plants begin flowering to allow bees and other insects to pollinate the crop.
In a couple of months, if everything goes right, you’ll start seeing beautiful melons appear and then ripen on your vines. Harvesting melons can be a bit tricky and is a combination of art and science. Some types of melons slip from the vine all on their own, and others must be cut. The information on your seed packet should specify what type of melon you are dealing with. When harvesting a new variety for the first time, however, it’s best to pick one fruit and test to see if it’s ripe before harvesting all of them.
Slip varieties are melons from which the fruit can be detached from the vine with a slight tug or gentle push of the thumb; cantaloupe is one such type. Forced-slip varieties are ready when the fruit can be detached with a firm push of the thumb. Cut-from-the-vine types must be physically removed from the plant using shears, pruners, or a sharp knife as they won’t slip. They are generally ready when the leaf or tendril closest to the stem has turned brown and the skins of the fruit have “warmed,” or colored up slightly. After that, all that is left to do is decide who will share in your delicious summer harvest.
One of the best reasons to grow melons at home is the wide range of varieties available, most of which are rarely seen at the supermarket. The following offer amazing flavor, and some are even especially suited for growing in the more challenging areas of the country:
‘Arava’
Type: Galia
Days to maturity: 77
Galias are commonly grown in the Mideast as a gourmet treat. The heavily netted fruit are ready to harvest when the skin turns yellow and the fruit slip from the vine. The thick, sweet green flesh of ‘Arava’ is particularly aromatic.
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