Melon ideas needed.

[womble]

I decided I would grow melons this year and have got some Blenheim Orange seeds.

Read a bit about them and how to grow them, apparently they like to be grown in groups of 3 or 4. Which I didn't realise before. And they climb high, the only photos I can find of them growing are them growing up over the ceiling of the greenhouse. Looks nice with all the melons hanging down though

The original plan, was to make a kind of glorified large cold frame, but now I realise that may not work, how do I get the melons to climb yet stay in a small frame and just how big would this thing need to be, to get 3 melon plants in it?

I don't want to put them in the greenhouse, because that is all tomatoes, which are alot more valuable to us and not so much of a "have a go" crop.

So, please, any ideas, or anything you've done before?

[Tomatoking]

Hi Womble

OK trust me on this one, melons are far harder to grow than tomatoes and need more heat, and the greenhouse really is the best place.
They do not take up a lot of space, but eating your own home grow melon is a real achievment.
The male flowers are on the stem and the female flowers are on the shoots. You can self polinate, but I have never had to do this.
Some female flowers are also on the stem, if these set, then cut them off.
Cut off the first 3 shoots as well. Then leave a flower set on the next shoot and leave a few leaves on, cutting off the rest of the shoot. Do this with 3 or 4 shoots.
When the plant reaches the top of the support wire, 6ft or so, cut the head off. If the small melon forming turns yellow when it is quite small, cut it off and start another shoot. In fact, you can have quite a few shoots, but in the end narrow it down to 4 maximium.
As the melon grows, support it in a net or even tights, which is what I tend to use, supported with string up to the crop wire.
It really is a lot of time for a few melons, against the vast amount of tomatoes that you would get, so the choice is yours, but you would have more chance of sucess in a greenhouse or polytunnel.

I have added a melon page to my blog, so you can see how I do it as the season progresses.
Mr TK

[supermum]

I grew ogen melons last year, one plant outside and one in a tunnel, the one outside blew over just as the fruit got going and some greedy little animal got to it before I did. The one inside gave 3 fruits... very yummy. I saved some seed and have tried to get them going but they get a few inches and then keel over