When to pick my melons

[ukmastiff]

Lo all, I feel quite fortunate in that I purchased a pack of assorted melon seeds ( 4 types) to try in my placie greenhouse and having germinated them and then planted them in grow bags in the greenhouse they are thriving. This suprises me in the U.K as I've read of melons failing quite a lot here.

I have two small problems.

1) I dont know the variety names as I have lost the packet. To be honest I never thought I'd get any fruit so was a bit slack there.

2) Without the packet I'm not sure how large they grow so have no idea when to pick them.

Does anyone have any guidence on when to pick melons/tell they are ready.

I have searched google and can't find the pack of assorted melon seeds for sale to see what they were , I'm sure I bought them from Thompson Morgan but they must have stopped selling them. Maybe I'll find that packet !

Cheers Mas

[TEB]

When you start to smell an intense "Melon" smell then they are getting very near to be picked, make sure you give them some good support until that time

[Alison]

They are ripe when the the bottom of them starts to feel an ickle bit soft too although that might not work for the thicker skinned varieties.

[Herbie]

I think I may have read somewhere they are ripe when the stem splits or cracks.