Melons!

[BUFFS]

this cooler wetter weather has started a load of melons growing where there were none all the time we had the lovely sunshine, I went to water them in the greenhouses today and an extra 4 on the those in the front and 6 on the rear plants and we still have time to get some sun on them.....hopefully..

[NatalieCooke]

How are everyone Melons doing?
I've got five so far maybe a few more on their way. Just hoping for some warmer weather!

[BUFFS]

we have had 2 of our melons and they were beautiful and I had a visitor asking how to produce the fruit, it just means using a kids little paint brush to twirl it into the flowers and then twirl it into the ones with a little "bulb" behind the petals and do this each day til you see some of them growing and don't let the plants run out of water, any check and the fruit is finished, support them as they gather weight, when you can smell them they are ready.....

[BertieFox]

We have had four or five gorgeous melons so far, including one enormous one (a 'citron' type... white flesh and green skin). Tasted like the honeydew types. In future though I will not train the plants up a cane structure as it is not strong enough and anyway the melons tend to fall off unless they are very carefully netted or tied in place.

We have had something eating them.... from the nibbling we suspect little rodents of some kind.... but we have been putting the kitten in the greenhouse over night now as a biological control, and it seems to have worked!

One melon plant I have just allowed to sprawl on the ground and have not pruned it at all. Interestingly this doesn't seem to have set any melons at all, or rather those that are there are so tiny that I doubt they will mature and ripen before autumn.

Next year we are going to try the melons on a horizontal trellis just off the ground and also keep them well pruned.

The outside melons are completely unsuccessful this year as they have not set any fruit, which is unusual. Again, we have just left them to ramble so perhaps they would be better if the leader and each of the sideshoots had been stopped at an early stage.

[BigV]

I have some melons this year! Surprise ,surprise I thought I was planting cucumbers.I have just them ramble,currently climbing up a tomato plant.There are three on each plant about the size of a small rugby ball.Hope they ripen.


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[BUFFS]

We have had four or five gorgeous melons so far, including one enormous one (a 'citron' type... white flesh and green skin). Tasted like the honeydew types. In future though I will not train the plants up a cane structure as it is not strong enough and anyway the melons tend to fall off unless they are very carefully netted or tied in place.

We have had something eating them.... from the nibbling we suspect little rodents of some kind.... but we have been putting the kitten in the greenhouse over night now as a biological control, and it seems to have worked!

One melon plant I have just allowed to sprawl on the ground and have not pruned it at all. Interestingly this doesn't seem to have set any melons at all, or rather those that are there are so tiny that I doubt they will mature and ripen before autumn.

Next year we are going to try the melons on a horizontal trellis just off the ground and also keep them well pruned.

The outside melons are completely unsuccessful this year as they have not set any fruit, which is unusual. Again, we have just left them to ramble so perhaps they would be better if the leader and each of the sideshoots had been stopped at an early stage.

i use 10ft canes shortened to 6ft ,2 to a pot and 3ft lengths tied in horizontally at about 10ins stages , this frame in each pot gives a strong structure which in 2006 (a really great summer up here) had one plant with 7 fruit which all ended up tasting lovely, anything less robust would just be asking for trouble and being vertical I can get two plants into the space where one sprawling plant would occupy and there is no way they would come to much outside up here....

[NatalieCooke]

I've got 3 plants sitting on the staging growing up metal caging we found in the garden.
I can't believe I was thinking about pulling the whole thing down a few weeks ago due to no fruit. We've got two that I've had to support using netting. The other 3 are quite happy sitting in-between the leaves. I can't wait to taste them.

Glad to hear others are having great success with theirs!

[skeggijon]

My melon plants appear to have Alternaria Leaf Spot. Would a copper/zinc crop mix help? Got 4 melons which still seem to be growing.

[Chomerly]

Sorry for not updating my progress on this thread.
My depression has been getting the better of me lately and it's been a mammoth effort to organise myself in most things.

Anyway, as I suspected, the melon plant had been pollinated at some point and had begun to produce just one melon.
However, as the weather over the past week has been noticeably chilly (as low as 7* on some nights) it has begun to die back.
It's a shame really as the current picture below doesn't do justice to how great this plant looked just a few weeks ago.
Also, as I suspected, I didn't think it would get close to finishing due to how late in the season it had started to grow.

Here's a picture of its current state.
I think I may have taken one while it was in its prime.
If I find it I will upload it.



At least now, I know how these things grow.
Am still a novice at growing plants, fruits and vegetables but I am learning as I go.
I can make a planter specifically for it that I can use in and out of a green house.
I need to make one for my grape vine so I can get one ready for another crack at growing a melon too.


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[BUFFS]

the warm weather came back in time for the plants in the rear greenhouse to continue growing and I got a second for my melon at the local show, and it tasted superb, mouthwatering..and another 5 left(not for long) giving the g/house a lovely aroma....

[NatalieCooke]

I'm still waiting for my melons to ripen. Are they likely to now with the older weather.

[CurlyGreen]

The Lonely Melon, sole survivor, has a melon fragrace at last.So worth waiting. Still a fair bit of sun to come.

[BertieFox]

The lonely melon is always incredibly welcome. I assumed our melons were completely over and so didn't look in the greenhouse for over a week. (It's one devoted to melons and to aubergines which have been a terrible failure for some reason!) I found where the foliage had died back there was a huge Sundew Spanish type, which I had completely overlooked as it must have been very covered by foliage. What gave it away was the fantastic smell of ripe melon as we walked in through the door.

It was maybe a bit 'too ripe', but it is one of the sweetest melons I have ever tasted. So the last is often the best!

[NatalieCooke]

I took these photo these morning of my biggest Melons.

[Nannysally99]

Well done you, you must be so pleased with them. Hope they taste gorgeous