Tips On Growing Melons In Cool Seasonal Climates
by John Yazo
Short growing seasons and cool climate conditions can make it a challenge when trying to grow a crop of melons in your home garden. Choosing a variety with a maturity time for your area and along with a few tips that are listed bellow, you can have a thriving crop of melons in your own home garden.
1) Start the seeds indoors in 4-inch peat pots early to mid-April.
2) Cover the seeds with a ¼ to ½ inch of fine soil and water with a warm water, room temperature.
3) Keep the seedlings growing vigorously, do not let them get cold or stressed out.
4) When the soil temperatures warm-up to about 70 degrees Fahrenheit, you can plant the seedlings outdoors.
5) They need a location with full and bright sun exposure. The soil you are planting in needs be a fertile, well-drained and rich in organic matter type soil.
6) Planting them on mounds or in a raised bed will have an advantage for the soil to warm earlier.
7) Using a solar mulch to cover the planting soil will increase the soils temperature up to 8-10 degrees to about a depth of 3-inches. These types of mulches also help suppress weed growth. Seedling can also be covered with a polyethylene tunnels to act as a mini greenhouse for added warmth and to help obtain quicker maturity. These covers can be removed when the daytime temperatures reach an average of 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
8) Watering is very important, especially if you are using a solar mulch. The best method of watering is to place a soaker or trip hose on the soil, under the mulch, before planting, melons need a steady supply of water.
9) Melons are fast growing, they require a feeding at the time they are planted,again when they set fruit and once more two weeks later with a compost or manure tea.
10) As the fruit begins to ripen it is best to lift them off the ground and place on the top of something like a turned-over coffee can or something similar so they are off the ground. You want to keep them high and dry so that the underside of the fruit does not begin to rot if the soil gets overly moist and for air circulation.
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