I have finally had some success this season with growing melons. The watermelons haven’t been doing that well and I was way off on the timing of the first one we harvested. I have three more growing now so I’m hoping to have a few more chances to get it right. The cantaloupe, however, are an entirely different story.
I planted two vines in our garden at home and one in our community garden plot. The taste has been absolutely amazing! They were incredibly sweet and juicy. They blew away every cantaloupe we’ve ever had from the grocery store. I was just shocked! Not bad for the first time I’ve grown them. We’ve harvested two and have three more growing in our home garden. The vines just put out another round of flowers so I’m hoping for a few more before the season is over. We’ve harvested five from our community garden vine already and there are 10 still growing. Yes, that’s 15 cantaloupes from one vine! Unbelievable! Hearts of Gold cantaloupe will go down as a winner for this season.
The vine at the community garden is healthier and far more productive than the ones at our house and I’ve done very little in terms of caring for the plot. The soil is just really good there and it’s a lot deeper. The garden bed is 4’x10’. As you can see in the picture, one cantaloupe vine takes up most of the space. I meant to have the vine grow up and over the trellis to the other side but I didn’t get to the garden often enough to train it properly. The vines just started cascading down to the ground and growing down the length of the bed. Now keep in mind, this is just one plant!
Cantaloupe vine
The vine winds through the other plants in the bed. One melon was even using my eggplant as a trellis. The tendril was attached to the eggplant near the top with the cantaloupe hanging from it. I was a little worried that it would break the eggplant so I very gently untangled it to let it rest on the ground. The vine reached the other side of the bed where I have a trellis that was meant for beans. However, the cantaloupe overtook the beans and is climbing that trellis now.
Trellis damage to cantaloupe
I’m using a wire trellis with large squares. This melon started to grow in the middle of a square. It was buried beneath the leaves so I didn’t spot it right away. I was really torn on whether or not to leave it. I had visions of it getting squeezed enough to burst and spray cantaloupe all over the the garden! I doubt that actually happens but it gave me a good laugh to think about it. At that point, I didn’t have many melons growing yet so I didn’t want to sacrifice it. I managed to cut the wire away to let the melon continue to grow. It actually turned out well. I picked it a bit early so it wouldn’t split through to the flesh but it was still quite delicious!
By the end of the season this one monster vine gave us 22 melons! Here are some more pictures of this crazy vine that took over our garden plot…
Cantaloupe-female flowers before pollination
Baby Cantaloupe
Cantaloupe
Cantaloupe
Ripe Cantaloupe opened
The discolored part on the left side of each half is where it split. Just cut around that part and the rest is perfectly fine!
And this is what it looks like when Comedian gets done with it! She loves them! When she was younger she’d actually eat the whole rind. She still tries though.
Good-bye Cantaloupe!
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Happy Gardening!
Tomato question I have a small P-Patch plot in Seattle, and it s currently jam-packed with chard and peas that are still just a few inches high. All the local garden sales start up next weekend, and my plan this year is to go for broke on tomatoes, tomatillos, and peppers, but I don t know where to put those tomatoes while I m waiting for spring crops to come in. Any suggestions? Will they be OK in pots for a month or so, or should I find a place to plant them in the garden now? Or just wait until later in the month and take my chances on what s left in stores?
Hi! While I’m not really familiar with the weather in Seattle, I imagine it’s a bit colder than where I live in Southern Nevada. I’m surprised to hear that your local nurseries are selling warm season crops so early in the year! Ours usually start in mid-February and even then we usually need blankets to keep them warm enough overnight for a few weeks. Your local cooperative extension should have a planting calendar specific to your area. I would double check that first. Our nurseries love to sell plants out of season so perhaps your stores are just getting an early start and will continue stocking once the warm growing season actually starts?
I have great luck in planting tomatoes early with Wall-of-Waters but other warm season crops don’t do so well until it warms up more naturally. They survive with frost covers but don’t really start growing much until later. I think planting them in pots for now would work well. That would make it easier to move them into a sheltered area or garage on cold nights. Bush variety tomatoes and peppers can actually do well in large containers if you want to keep some growing there all season. I’d go for 5 gallon containers or larger for that. These posts may be helpful for you. Get an Early Start on Tomatoes and Frost Protect for Your Garden
Hope that helps!