Melon Garden for 08

I have ten different varieties of melons. All have sprouted and soon I'll have to cull them out. I planted a mixed variety of Casaba, watermelon and cantaloupe which I will name after they grow a little bit more. My only concern are the bees that are so necessary for pollination or I'll have to do a lot of hand pollinating. As you can see I am an EB (earthbox) grower and have had excellent results with them. Can grow many more on far less space. There are three plants per EB for a total of thirty melon plants in a relatively small area. Will keep ya'll informed as we grow...

Hello, Tplant.
I see you have the boxes strung out over grass. Is that much of a problem?

I would be afraid to put 3 watermelons in one earth box...especially large fruited ones, but you should already have a feel for what the boxes can do.

As for bees...I notice that the bees seem scarce at first for the early blooms and I do some hand polination to ensure some early fruits. Later the bees seem to get the word and show up better. I don't know about the situation down there in balmy Florida though.

I notice a double gate in the picture...perhaps that is a school ground gate?

Blessings on your crop.

Indy

Indy -- The grass you see is temporary. It is called "Bahia Grass" and it is much like straw
as it grows low and slow. It is the only thing I can do for now as they will have to be moved very soon to make way for our new water line. It will take a week to install and if I didn't start my seeds now -- well who knows when I could? I can work around everything because of my portable EBs.

I planted three melons per EB intending to keep two of the strongest. The EB people suggest three or was it just two? Don't remember! For the gate -- it is our temporary gate and also construction entrance gate. When construction is complete they will erect a new and much stronger gate that will be shared by school personnel and us. Also we will have much more gardening space although I have even more now than I did before. With the additional gardening room I will plant more tropical fruit trees in addition to the ones I already have in my garden. We are doing OK here.

I hope the gate keeps the kids from the school from getting into your place and stealing your fruit!

LOL --- I wish the children did come around as I could teach them so much about gardening and growing their own veggies and fruits but they stay far away from me as if I were poison! Guess it is for the best as they are taught to avoid strangers. My grandson will be attending the school in September so maybe he will bring his friends over? That would be nice as I love children and they so want to learn.

Noticed today that my Golden Casaba pollinators sprouted but no sign of the female sprouts? Just for safety sake I re-seeded them today along with a blank space from an Orangelo Watermelon. I planted three more seeds in that spot. As far as the others are concerned I did get 100% germination and that is terrific. They were all Baker Creek Seeds. I've never had 100% pollination before and had to cull them out to one per hole and they were all perfect seedlings." Well Done Baker Creek"

You can put 4 melons to an EB. That is at least what the directions say. I have done just that, so we will know soon enough.

Yes I know but I prefer three sometimes even two! It depends on the culture of the melon. Honeydews usually provide three to five melons. Watermelons two or more especially if sugarbabys as they are good for five. I have ten EBs for melons so I'll have more than enough to eat if the bees do their job. (I hope!)

Im hoping for the bees as well. We are not huge melon fans but I do have some sangria watermelons and some canalope type. Trying 'green nutmeg' from baker creek. Looked pretty inside. ;-). Cant wait to see yours growning.

This message was edited Mar 16, 2008 9:00 AM

Oh! I'm way ahead of you including gladioli, begonia, lilies, tuberoses, roses, zinnia, marigold, lantana, jasmine, geranium, papaya, oranges, gardenia, brugs and many more varieties. I planted most all of their favorites that I always grow hoping to keep them around but they are far and few between.

My dad built me a bee hive for Christmas. Three pounds of bees will be here frist of May! I have way to much going on this spring:-)

I had 6 female watermelon flowers open this morning. No bees, so I did nature's work. I hope I'm a good bee!!!

BocaBob

Gosh, can you do it yourself, just in case. I would never know if a bee came by or not.

Everything I read says you can. Down here in my neighborhood, I never see any bees, so I know I have to do it. I also just bought cucumber and summer squash seeds that produce only female flowers and are self pollinating.

BocaBob

Bob -- Don't spare the pollen. Spread it at least five or six times to be certain it pollinates. If you have never tasted a home grown melon, truly ripened on the vine, you are in for a real treat. However, with the arrival of high humidity may I suggest you take precautions to prevent mold and mildew on the melons and cucumbers. I use a fogger and BT dust. It works if you follow a suggested schedule. Also do plant flowers that attract bees! Bees will do the job that nature intended them too...

Thanks Tplant. I'm not a big flower fan, but if they get the bees to me, I'll palnt the ones you mentioned.

BocaBob

Tplant-HELP ME!!!
The watermelon patch is eating my house up. Not really, but it is out of control. Three of the 4 females that I pollinated worked. Over the weekend they doubled in size. I'm a proud father of tripletts. But the vines keep growing like a foot a day it seems like. Can and should I cut the growing ends of the vines. They are heading for my bedroom!!!!!!!

BocaBob

I guess you have no choice but to cut the vines. However once they are established and the vines are disturbed they stop growing and die. It happened to me. If I were you I would just walk around them if possible. Melons need a good deal of space. Each EB needs a 10' x 10' area if possible but you can get away with less in most circumstances. I trellised my honeydews and sugar babies last season and this gave me more room but because of all the confusion and movement around here I've not had time to really plan! Of course you can not trellis watermelons other than sugar babies. I have the new Sugar Bush Babys but am very disappointed with germination. Only about two out of fourteen. Must have gotten a bad batch. Rather disappointing as this plant requires only three and a half feet of space. Watching all your results confirms my suspicion that you definetly have a "Green Thumb." LOL Keep goin!!!

And a great watering system to go along with that thumb.

.

Does Sugar Baby need another watermelon to produce or can Sugar Baby be grown by itself?

Sugar Baby is self pollinating to the best of my knowledge but I have never grown one by itself. I have always grown them in groups of three. Just keep your containers close if you want to be safe! Besides you will wish you had grown many more as they are so good and are long keepers. I am really getting concerned about their lack of pollination.

I didn't word my question very good; but you gave me the info,I needed.I will be growing more than one plant; just didn't know if I needed to grow a different kind with it. Now that,I know I don't,I can plant a few more. I will be planting in the ground; may try planting a couple in my large tub planter.

I think the only melons that actually need another variety as a pollinator are the seedless hybrids.

Thats good to know. I myself, only have seeded varieties. Ive just never had a seedless watermelon that had the texture or taste of those good ole long stripped watermelons from GA/FL

All this time, I was thinking Sugar Baby was a seedless hybrid.
Don't know,why I was confused. That's even better. Where did you find your seeds(only need 6-8)?

Sugar Baby is often included as a pollenizer in packets of the seedless melons. That may have given you the idea.

christmascactus,

I'll let Tplant answer your question about seed source.

Probably 100 seed sales places carry Sugar Baby melons as it is the most widely grown watermelon by beginners.

I would think that Burpee's Fordhook Hybrid could be a very delicious melon for those looking for smaller plants than the larger ones I grow.......and it is just a notch larger than SB....about 14 pounds.

cactus -- Bush Sugar Baby seeds are available at Lowes or Home Depot. They are Burpee seeds and cost $1.08 per pkg of 20 or so seed. Very reasonable!!

Thanks for all the info.
Will ck. out the seed rack at Lowe's.
I had looked at Walmart & they didn't have it.

My melon seedlings are starting to become melon plants. They are doing very well and seem to like their wide open location. Finally getting some heavy rain today. We need it because of our severe drought. Hope to take pictures tomorrow although we are supposed to get more rain...

My melons are starting to grow now. Amazing what natures rains will do!

They are all this size except for a couple of late starters.

After three tries and a fresh pack of seeds purchased from Home Depot and not Lowes they finally sprouted. Seems I purchased a bad batch so I suggest you buy yours from HD instead. I did go back to Lowes for a second pack but that didn't work either. No sense in telling them because it just goes in one ear and out the other. A Shame!! Others are going to buy the seed and will be very disappointed.

Another!

As you can see I have many more but at this stage they are all about the same size.

Do you direct seed in your boxes or transplant your seedlings?
Sorry,if you have already said,I missed it if you did.
Thanks for the tip about the seeds at lowes,will check hp.

Oh no problem! I always direct seed melons because they don't like to be disturbed once they sprout. I discovered this the hard way when I purchased a flat of melon seedlings at HD. Transplanted them and at first I thought it was transplant shock but then they started to wither. They just keeled over and died.. From that time on I always direct seed without any problems.

Just to show you the weed mat that I placed under my melonns to keep them free of the grass and hopefully healthy. My son, with whom I live with, did not particularly like the fact of covering the area but it was the only way to keep them healthy as you can see.

The melons on this side seem to be more developed than the others? Strange!! The melons that are larger in growth recieve less sun because of my neighbor's high hedges, yet they are larger in growth. Go figure!! That is one good question for Farmerdill?

See what I mean? These melons are in full sun? The one all the way down at the end is a Bush Sugar Baby. I had a whale of a time getting those seeds to germinate if you can recall but after finding another seed source, instead of Lowes, they germinated perfectly. Never grew the "Bush" variety as the vines are to grow only to about three and a half feet. If this is true and the fruit is of excellent quality and I do mean excellent as that is the only type that I will grow, they will become a regular in my melon patch.