Thoughts On Melons

I've never had too much luck with growing melons. Most of the books say they should be fairly easy and they are, in many ways, like squash and cucumber which I do grow well, but I seldom get good results with melons. More often than not they die off early in the season and, if they make it, very seldom do I get fruit.

Winter is a time for for reflecting on what went well in the garden this year and planning for the next season and I picked up a copy of Melons for the Passionate Grower hoping for some pointers. This is largely a picture book written by a true melon aficionado, but it also has some good chapters on melon history and growing technique.

Melons are originally from Africa and, not surprisingly, need long hot days. After reading this, I'm pretty sure one of my problems is I'm putting them outside too early in the spring. The author suggests for zone 5 to put your plants out after Memorial Day. I am zone 6 and I usually have them out well before that.

There was also some good suggestions about growing them on black plastic which not only will keep the ground warmer, but it will also help keep the weeds down. Ensuring proper drainage and planting on mounds to further improve drainage is probably the other thing I can do better.

Hopefully with these relatively small adjustments I'll have a better melon season next year. Here are the varieties I am planning:

One item I got last year from the Hudson Valley Seed Library which I'd like to try again was the Banana Melon. Not only does this melon have an unusual shape, but it is also supposed to smell like a banana.

A second one I got from the Hudson Valley Seed Library was Schoon's Hard Shell which is supposed to do well in this area of the country. This too did not go well this year and I'd like to give it another try.

The final variety I am planning is theCream Saskatchewan Watermelon. I had been admiring this in the Seed Savers Exchange catalog and then happened to come across it again in the Novella Carpenter book which described it in equally glowing terms.