This is a big challenge for me. I would LOVE to grow a juicy sweet melon this year. No luck the last few years. But the weather is perfect so far. Maybe I will be successful. My vines look long and full so far.
I have several types of melons growing this year: Anne Arundel, Crane, Charentais, Edonis (early Charentais type) and Sugar Baby watermelon. I don't know the variety in the photo, but I'm seeing lots of little fruits setting on my vines. I am looking forward to watching them. Once squashes set, they grow fast and my guess is melons are the same.
18 comments:
Discovering BABIES in the garden is so much fun!! I hope your melons do great for you this year.
It's so exciting to see baby melons! Nice.
Oooh! the scent and taste of a properly ripened, home grown melon is amazing. I hope you get some.
I have to say-I smiled when I saw this picture. What is it about baby vegetables that is soooo cute?
Good luck with your melon. I have not been able to get one fully ripened in the 3 years I have been here (northern MI). Already the nights are getting quite cool-I think I see the same problem yet again. Sigh.
I'm a little further North than you and i had tried almost every year. Usually with Sugarbaby starts from the nursery. The closest i got was a fruit the size of a candlepin ball from that, with a slightly underripe, pinkish core about the size of a racquetball. That was picked only a few days short of the first frost.
Other times i'd gotten more promising looking fruit but woodchucks got to them before they could get larger.
This year with a garden almost 10x what i normally had i went with a whole row of melons. I have Pony Yellow, Hale's Best, Tom Watson, Rocky Ford and Banana. I have a few fuzzy fruit from Hale's starting and a number of round & oval w.melons ranging in size from football to marble.
If this year dosen't work, i may try once more but its a real challenge to grow them.
Good Luck! :o)
I don't mean to burst your bubble but I don't think you're going to get any mature melons this year. Our most successful melon year (2 years ago) we were harvesting 35lb Charleston and Moon and Stars watermelons in mid-August (just down the street from you in Westwood, MA, zone 6). Last year was a complete bust. This year we planted Sugar Babies and they have been at a mature size for over a month already and will be harvested within the next two weeks.
...the rest of your crop looks absolutely awesome though.
I've got six nice-sized sugar baby melons growing in my garden right now. The largest is the size of magic 8 ball right about now! I'm so excited! I've tried growing melons every year i've been in MA and this is the first time I actually think I'll get fruits!
I'm still going to hope mine will ripen. They are growing in my cold frame, so I may have a longer season than field grown plants. I will put the covers on soon because the nights are cooling down a bit.
I found several more set fruits today. Also a larger one than the 1 inch photographed one. Maybe 2 inches long.
Yet again you give me hope, I have grown 3 types, they are vining well and I have put them in a little greenhouse, if it works it will be fantastic if not a cheery experiment.
The vegling thing is great a huge Cheshire Cat smile appears when I see a dinky cucumber has appeared!
Marian (London UK)
I tried to grow a watermelon, but it just didn't work, unfortunately.
And I love watermelon.
Maybe I didn't water them enough, I don't know what happened.
I hope you are more successful growing yours.
Your photo prompted me to run to my melon patch and check, my melons are all about that same size! Fluffy, perfect miniatures, at least 15 set fruits out of the 4 or so plants. Now I'm worried that they wont grow or mature in time, but honestly after only a few days of noticing them they've doubled in size. Here's to hoping!
Go little melons GO!! I bet a lot depends on the weather ahead.
I was going to suggest a hoop house for the melons but it looks like you are already growing it in the cold frame.
Water melons can get big really fast if there is heat and sufficient water.
Good luck and I will follow to see how it is working out for you.
Our Cuban watermelon was a failure this year in Southern Ontario :(
Woohoo I hope your melons get to maturity! I'm also growing some sugar babies and so far nothing... Grrr!!
How cute! I love tiny baby things.
I had to skip gardening this year because of going to nursing school - thankfully my fiancee planted tomatoes, at least - but if I had known it would be this hot, I'd have planted some melons as an experiment. This weather has been brutal.
Here in RI, I have two sugar babies ripening (maybe more if I looked harder.) I'm guessing about 8 inches in diameter. I think I planted two vines. Total neglect after planting, due to the heat.
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