Grow Melons

When warm weather and growing season arrives, a favorite sweet fruit of summertime are melons. These juicy treats are versatile and great to eat off the vine or in cooled dishes, and are full of vitamins and nutrients. There are many delicious varieties available that all require similar conditions for planting and growing, including watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe and muskmelon. Melons are members of the gourd family that grow from vines, and do best in warm temperatures, full sun and generously-watered soil. With the right growing conditions and a few easy tips, learning how to grow melons is a simple task from which you will reap sweet rewards.

Steps

1. Study the climate that you live in before planting melons.
   • Because growing melons is easier in warmer climates, you will have to take into consideration how cool the ground is before planting melons.
   • You must wait until after the last expected frost of spring and allow the wet soil to dry for the melon seeds to germinate properly.
2. Decide if you want to grow melons from seeds or starter plants.
3. Purchase melon seeds or young melon plants from a nursery or home and garden store.
4. Pick a spot for growing melons that will get full sun during the day.
5. Prepare the soil by breaking it up with a shovel or tiller, and add compost, fertilizer and mulch.
   • Plant the melons seeds or plants in hills of dirt.
   • Put 3 to 5 melon seeds about 1 inch deep (2.5 cm) and 2 inches (5.08 cm) apart. Plant starter plants about 2 inches (5.08) apart.
6. Saturate the area with water.
7. Thin your melon plants when they grow into plants with several layers of leaves if you started them from seed.
   • Simply pull out the smaller plants so they don't crowd the larger melon plants.
8. Fertilize the plants every 3 to 4 weeks throughout growing season for the best outcome when growing melons.
9. Water the melon plants every 2 to 3 days throughout the summer, more often if the weather is very hot and dry.
10. Check your melon plants for pests or disease throughout the season.
    • Holes in the leaves or patches of colors on the plants are signs that you might need to remove bugs from the plants or alter watering times and amounts. Natural methods for treating issues are better than using chemicals.
11. Harvest melons in late summer or early fall, eat and enjoy.

Tips

• Try planting a variety of kinds when growing melons. You can decide with ones you like best and save plenty of seeds from the melons you harvest for the next growing season.
• In climates with long winters and short summers, consider starting melon seeds indoors. Plant them in containers of compost and peat moss about 20 days prior to transplanting outdoors after the risk of frost.
• Try an alternative melon growing method, such as planting them next to a tall, sturdy trellis. When the plants start to vine, wrap them around the trellis. When melons grown on the vines, they won't be laying directly on the ground.
• If you live in a cool climate, consider covering the area where you are planting melons with mulch and black plastic covering. This will help to hold heat in the soil and keeps it warm, which will help the melon seeds germinate and the young plants thrive.
• Keep your plants healthy by following melon growing tips from the time of planting to avoid problems later. Healthy plants tend to be disease-free and not attract pests.

Warnings

• Do not over-water as this can cause your plants and melons to rot. If water is standing on top of the soil, add some mulch around the melon plants.
• Don't plant melons if there is a risk of frost. Melon plants will not survive frost and seeds are likely not to germinate if the soils gets too cold.

Things You'll Need

• Melon seeds
• Melon starter plants
• Shovel
• Tiller (optional)
• Peat moss
• Fertilizer
• Mulch
• Compost
• Black plastic ground cover (optional)
• Water

Related Articles

• Plant a Mango Seed
• Grow Blackcurrants
• Identify and Treat Strawberry Diseases
• Grow Cherry Tomatoes

Sources and Citations

• http://www.northerngardening.com/NGB_articles/melon.htm
• http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/vegetable/growing-melons.htm
• http://www.mastergardeners.org/projects/ninepalms/2006/melon.html
• http://usagardener.com/how_to_grow_vegetables/how_to_grow_melons.php
• http://www.organicgardeninfo.com/growing-melons.html

See also

• Plant a Plum Seed
• Stake an Apple Tree
• Grow Lanzones
• Plant Loquat Seeds
• Grow Olives
• Grow Strawberries in a Pot
• Prune Apple Trees
• Grow Strawberries
• Grow an Apple Tree from a Seed
• Prune a Cherry Tree

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