Kitchen Garden Forum

I grew melons last year for the first time and although they were a fab flavour, they were small and few in number. I don't think I managed them properly. Can someone give me an idiot guide to doing better this year please?

This is not going to be much help in the growing of melons, but my husband is a great believer in using the www to get information. For example, for growing tomatoes, he simply inserted the word tomatoes into a google search, and got the information he needed. Having had success in getting information with this method, when he tried to grow melons, he inserted the word 'melons' into a google search.

Hells bells, it was more to do with women's chest features than fruit.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about your melons being small and few in number. You said it all when you said they were "fab flavour". You don't need melons as big as pumpkins, as with anything else, what you grow your own for is 'taste'.

valmarg

I once read that 'commercial' melons will be given a set of numbers after their name, eg 2-4-3. This will tell you when to pinchout the growing ends to get the right growth and flowers for your variety, so with the above example you would pinch out the growing tip to leave 2 true leaves, then pinch out after the resulting growths have 4 leaves and then pinch out the further growths after 3 leaves. Hopefully with feeding and warmth the plant should then put out enough flowers (both male and female) to allow a reasonable crop. However this information does not appear on 'gardener' packets.

I also think that you should only be letting one melon develope on each of the final branches, so that they grow bigger.

However this is all from memory as my attempt at melons failed last year due to frost-bite last May

All cucurbitacae like LOTS of manure....in the wild they developed to be eaten by dinosaurs and the seed would pass unharmed through the animal to be ready planted in a nice fresh pile of dug. Failing dinosaur dung any ruminant dung should do

Hi all

I wouldn't mind an idiots guide to growing melons. I've tried a couple of times with no success whatsoever. The seeds didn't even germinate!!!

What did I do or not do? I love melons, they're one of my favourites so would love to grow them myself.
Any thoughts chaps?

On a more serious note than my previous posting, I think vivie veg hits the nail on the head when she mentions male and female flowers being in flower at the same time.

My dad used to grow melons, and one year he got absolutely nothing, simply because when there were female flowers on the plants, there were no male flowers, and vice versa. What he used to do when there were both flowers on the plants was to take the male flowers and hand pollinate the female flowers. In a good year he got a decent crop.

valmarg

I think it would be wise to grow several melons together, so that there is more chance of getting both males and females.

Two years ago I grew just one butternut squash, as I did not want too many fruits, but all the male flowers started first and the female flowers came later. Only the first female flower got pollinated and that could have been by a courgette that I was growing in the greenhouse. The resulting fruit was fine though.

Which brings me to another point, cucurbitacae are very promiscuous and will cross pollinate with any other cucubitacae. I once grew ornamental guords and ridge cucumbers. The next spring I threw the guords on the compost heap and got a good crop of courgette like fruit, they were delicious...I bet I couldn't do it again if I tried!

Also cucubitacae will produce mainly male flowers if the plant is in stress. I.E. if the plant thinks it has not got long to live, then it will produce the males in order that it has some chance of passing it's genes to another plant which might have a better life expectancy. (except F1 hybrids, but that's a different story). So give those melons lots of tender loving care.....they hate low temperatures aim for 20 degrees C, plenty of organic matter and enough water without causing rot!

I once read that it was the Victorian practise to grow cucumbers in straw beds, previously soaked in blood. I have grown Tomatoes on straw bales (soaked in water and fertiliser for about a month before planting) so I wonder if you could do this with cucumbers and melons, using dried blood as the fertiliser?

Well I have a few packets of seeds, so I will experiment (if I ever get the plastic on the tunnel )

Thanks for all your advice. Let's see if I can do better this year?!

Valmarg - try putting 'growing melons' into Google rather than just 'melons'. It's much safer! Although most of the results are American, T&M came up trumps with a useful guide. I'd forgotten about their tips and guides - they're very good. Added to my favourites now.

Thanks very much for that info Tigger, the sites are very informative.

It was my husband who posted 'melons' into google. Being a two fingered typist, he tends to minimise what he needs to type, and on that particular exercise got more than he expected/wanted!!

valmarg

I'm trying some 'Tigger' melons this year! However, they have not germinated yet... didn't get many seeds, so have a few to try again with if these are a no show. I wouldn't grow 'Century' again, didn't have many fruits in or out of the greenhouse despite hand pollination.

i have just bought my first packet of melon seeds!
i was very excited until dh pointed out that i actually wasn't very keen on them!
i thought it would be easy to have a go-reading this link i now feel as though i need to know more!

me again
i've just eaten a v v tasty melon and saved the seeds
do i need to dry them out or can i plant them tomorrow-is there any preperation needed?
thanks

Don't know - why don't you split them up and plant some directly and others dried? Just a thought.

Hi Jopsy,
The majority of shop bought Melons are F1 Hybrids which means that when you grow the seed you probably not get a replica of what you have bought. This however does not follow in all cases so if you have the room there is no reason for you not to try but just be prepared for a disapointment.
On a brighter note I saved the seeds of a Galia Melon a couple of years back and although the fruit was different if anything it was an improvement to what I bought.

I decided to try melons this year and eagerly planted the seeds. I have ended up with one small specimen about two inches tall with just about a second pair of leaves on it. Should I persevere and eventually try planting it out in my polytunnel or should I just give up and try again next year as it is too late? Or does anyone know of a good source of melon plants?
Polly

You should be able to get them at the Garden Centre. I might have a few spare if you want me to post them to you. They need another week or so before they'll be ready but they should survive a journey then. If you want them, PM me with your address.