Melon advice

[Gman]

Hey folks,

can anyone offer melon advice? I have a few plants in the ground of my greenhouse and thought they grew in a bush a bit like courgettes so they're in front of my tomatoes.

the first one's plant looks more like a cucumber plant than a courgette (wee tendrils - looks like a vining plant rather than a bush).

Do I need to grow melons up a cane? Or can they sprawl along the ground like a winter squash? Or have I got my seeds mixed up and this is not a melon but really another cucumber?

thanks

[Jungle Jane]

I’ve grown them along the ground & up canes,up canes they’re more away from snails. I left one plant trailing along the ground years ago,came back from holiday & the small melon had a big eaten part on it,never did it again always up canes now,I use three in a teepee shape about four foot high,pinch the leader when it gets to the top of the cane. They would be shorter than the tomatoes to be able reach behind. I grow melons in buckets in front of my tomatoes or in front of my beans

[ameno]

Melons are certainly trailers or climbers, yeah. They're actually the same genus as cucumbers, and as you have noticed the plants look pretty similar (although melons have smaller leaves and a slightly different leaf shape).
As mentioned above, slugs can be problem is you let them trail, as they will eat the immature fruit.
If you choose to have them climb, fruits will need suspending in a net bag once they reach about tennis ball size, as the sheer weight of them can easily snap them off the plant otherwise. Also, many melon varieties drop from the stalk when fully ripe, so the net is also there to catch them when that happens.

I grow mine trailing along the ground, and to protect the fruit from slugs I enclose each developing fruit in a drawstring bag made of insect mesh. Keeps the slugs out completely.

[Gman]

Thanks folks, I'll persevere

[Jungle Jane]

Just found this photo from 2020 shows the size of the plants & the melons growing in buckets,one tied with what satsumas come in from the shop with string at both sides to hang. The sideshoots here should be tied onto the canes but they’re ok trailing on the ground messily They don’t take much space controlled like this -