Description
- Melons provide a sweet and colorful addition to summer meals, and they can be grown in the home garden.
- Before Planting: A light, well-drained soil with a pH of 7.0 and a southern exposure is ideal. Good soil moisture is important in early stages of growth and during pollination when fruits are setting.
- Watering: Melons need a steady supply of water, and soil needs to be damped but not flooded, approximately 1 inch a week.
- Days to Maturity: A ripe melon should be very easy to remove from the vine. For a cantaloupe, the netting pattern on the melon becomes more visible and a crack appears at the base of the stem when it was ripe.
- Some melon types, like honeydew, Charentais, canary, Spanish, and Crenshaw are overripe by the time the stem can be tugged from the fruit.
Tips: Cut off watering 1 week before harvest. This will give a more flavorful, concentrated melon. Over watering before harvest can cause bland taste.
