Grow Melons in your Garden

I CAN SMELL THE MUSKY MELON PERFUME as I squeeze through the crowd surrounding his table. What luck, the farmer has samples, thinly cut slivers of fragrant, orange melon. Charantais is the name—the melon, not the farmer. It is the most flavourful melon I’ve ever eaten. And sweet! I’m sure it is a fine melon variety—but, equally important, it was picked at optimal ripeness.

And that’s why I grow melons in the garden: I can pick them when they’re perfectly ripe.

Grow tomatoes?

If you can grow tomatoes in your area, good chance your climate is warm enough to grow melons too.

Cantaloupe, honeydew, crenshaw, canary, watermelon...

There are many types of melon, and many varieties of each type. Select one that is suited to your area. Short summer? Look for a variety suited to a short growing season.

How to Grow Melons in Your Garden

Hot summers; space to roam; and regular watering: If your garden offers these, try to grow melons.

They hail from the same family as cucumbers—and they, too, are trailing, warm-season annuals.

From Seed

Many garden centres sell plants, but if you want a specific melon variety, you might have to grow it yourself.

You can sow seeds directly in the garden or start them indoors, 2-3 weeks before the last frost. I like to start them indoors to get a head start.

• Start seeds in pots. Plant ½ - 1 inch deep. I use peat pots because it’s easy to damage melons when transplanting.
• Set the pots in a sunny, warm window. Melons haven’t responded well to the light set-up in my cold basement.
• Don’t rush to transplant them into the garden after the last frost date. They love heat and hate cold. I find it best to wait at least a week after the last frost date has passed.
• You can sow directly in garden. Sow after the risk of frost has passed, usually a couple seeds together in a hill, a raised area of soil that heats up more quickly than the surrounding soil.

In the Garden

Like cucumbers, you can grow melons vertically if you don’t have a lot of space. And if you grow them vertically, you can probably sneak in a few lettuce plants here and there behind your trellis. I often grow mine on top of the compost pile, where the soil is well drained and heats up quickly.

• Melons hate wet feet, so if you have a heavy, wet clay soil, try a raised bed.
• Add lots of compost, which enriches the soil while improving drainage.
• Heat is the key word. Mulching around the plants with dark, heat-absorbing compost works well.
• Don’t forget that they sprawl. If you’re planting them in a garden bed, remember that they are big plants – so leave space, about a square metre.

Maintenance

They hate wet feet but need lots of water. More water = bigger melon.

• Water thoroughly 1-2 times per week if there is no rain
• Weed the patch well in the early stages to minimize competition from weeds.
• Weed competition lessens when the plant has lots of leaves shading the ground.

Harvest

I’ve seen people thump watermelons to determine ripeness, but I still don’t have the ear to tell when they’re ready... If you hear a sharp sound it is supposed to mean the melon isn’t yet ripe, while a more muffled sound means it’s ripe.

• With watermelons, look to see if the underside—the part that rests on the ground—has changed from white to yellow.
• Smell cantaloupes. It’s the best way. You’ll know when you smell a ripe cantaloupe.

Pests

Naughty raccoon. My toddler now prefaces raccoon with the word naughty.

The raccoons moved in one night, when the watermelons were nearing optimal ripeness—and when we’d eaten only a couple. They ate the rest!

• Here in the city there’s an overabundance of raccoons. I’m not sure what preventative measures to take, but I’ll likely...gulp...harvest my melons before they’re ready, then let them ripen in the shed.

Tips

• Growing melons vertically? Support them from underneath with a net or cloth sling.
• I have grown them along a hedge, which provides adequate support.

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