Melon Patch

I've been a vegetable gardener for years, but I don't know much about "farming". I'm thinking about almost crossing that line, though.

We live on a six acre place, and the part of it that's not oak trees is in "pasture". I call it that, but we don't keep any cows. It's fescue pasture grass that I mow several times each season with a brush hog.

Our house and my vegetable garden are up on the hill, and the garden has limited space. It's 36' x 36', raised, with railroad ties and a fence around it. It would be a lot of work to enlarge it.

The trouble is that I like to grow some cantaloupes and watermelons every year, and they take so much space they're crowding me in the garden. There's a place that's level down in our pasture - it's right at the base of our steep hill, and it's in a low spot that floods once in awhile if there's real heavy rain.

The soil in that spot is black, and it's silt that's washed down over the years. It seems pretty crumbly - not too much clay. The pasture grass always grows higher there. I've got a turning plow for my tractor, and I'm thinking about plowing about a 25' x 40' rectangle there and removing the fescue sod.

I don't have enough compost for an area like that. I guess I could get a soil test and add whatever lime and fertilizers it needs at first - then work on adding compost in the years to come.

It's too far to reach with a garden hose, but I have our old 40 gallon well tank that we had to replace. I'm thinking about welding fittings on that so I can pick it up with the tractor's 3-point hitch, putting a faucet and hose near the bottom, and that way I could water if necessary.

What do you think about making a melon patch and building up the soil in a place like that? Practical or not?

Gosh - the soil sounds great - why would you put compost on soil that is already in good shape? Save it for your problem areas!

Good luck removing the fescue. My ag person said one of the few things that will kill it is short mowing it repeatedly to remove the energy-producing leaves. Fescue is one of those grasses that grows from stolons, so if you plow it up it merely distributes it better.

Rather than work that hard, if that pasture area is fenced, you might consider renting it to a cow or horse person for a season and allow them to over-graze the area. As tough as it's been to get decent hay or pasture with the drought, you might be surprised at the takers.... and then you have manure for your compost to boot!

My .02 cents...

Good luck with your melon patch.

You got me drooling on the keyboard. PC is right, fescue is hard to kill off. I'd suggest putting down layers of wet newspapers or cardboard to kill it out and compost what you can. By the time it warms up enough to plant melons you should be able to plant in that area with no problem. Clever idea on setting up to water!