Melon Patch Expansion

[MiniOrchardDude]

As I posted in the introduction my favorite fruits to grow for the year are watermelons, honeydews and canteloupe. I have grown them for about 10 years and figured out the best way for my sandy soil, actually pure sand soil.

Here is my construction project I started in March. Still need to lay down more chips. I leveled gorund so digging out in high areas and putting in low areas.

I'm happpy with the results since last year I ran out of garden real estate.

MOD

 

[YumYum]

What variety of canteloupe do you grow and do you have problems with disease?

 

[MiniOrchardDude]

I grow the Sugar Cube. Apparently the most disease resistant variety. They are rather small so I think of them like a personal pizza. Wish they were a lot sweeter but still better than store bought. They stay fairly healthy and produve until frost. I copper spray all my melons. Without the copper they will not make it until frost.

 

[MiniOrchardDude]

Cantaloupe, Sugar Cube Hybrid

The most disease-free melon on the market.

www.burpee.com

MOD

 

[YumYum]

I wouldn't mind the size as long as I could harvest and eat one and it was good. Never heard of that variety. If it tastes like the ones at Walmart then I wouldn't care for it but it doesn't say it is a hybrid so might be worth a shot.

 

[MiniOrchardDude]

Let me clarify. I am a super sweet tooth type of person. I prefer all my fruit to taste like sugar. I am not a berry person, to sour. Blueberries I love. White peaches over yellow since the whites are sub-acid. Taste way sweeter with the same sugar content.

The sugar cube is sweet, by far better than store bought. Its just not my sweetest fruit. Everyone who tried them complimented the sweet taste but my Crimson Sweets watermelon take the sweetness prize and unfortunely they produce at the same time.

I failed miserably before. These so far are the only ones that kept producing. Im trying 2 more different varities this year. A Giant Hybrid and a Mango Melon Hybrid. I am counting on the copper spray to help control diseases. It made a big difference on my watermelons. They now also produce until frost.

MOD

 

[MiniOrchardDude]

The melon patch so far is going great.

Pumkins need a new home. Taking over everything but I just can't seem to prune them. Pumkin seeds are my favorite.

MOD

 

[YumYum]

They do look good. Nice job.

 

[Meadowlark]

Yes, that's a good-looking melon patch. I haven't tried that Sugar Cube cantaloupe, but it sounds good. I also go for the sweet taste and the Ambrosia from Burpee that I grow really fill that bill. It routinely hits 14 on my Brix meter.

In watermelons, I've pretty much gone to the seedless varieties. Life is too short to spend it spitting seeds, LOL. The seedless need a pollinator. This Harvest Moon I picked today weighed about 20 pounds and Brix reading of 12.5 which is excellent. However, it doesn't look seedless and must have crossed with another variety.

Its been a great year for melons here hot and dry. We're picking a 20 pounder every day since July 1.

Like yours the vines tend to take over everything. I'll probably start a pumpkin variety next month. What variety do you grow?

 

[MiniOrchardDude]

I like my Crimson sweets and tend to think the seeded WM are sweeter but I can be wrong. I can usually get 1 or 2 40 pounders. Plenty of 30 pounders and 20 pounders. I have been saving seed for about 6 years maybe more. For that reason I only plant one variety. One year I planted 3-4 different varities. The following year the WM tasted horrible. Most were the orange flesh color. Learned my lesson on cross polination, lol.

I will be lucky to get a 30 pounder this year. The leaves are way smaller and no where near as bushy as last year. I hope I'm wrong but either way they will be sweet no matter the size. The center is always the sweetest. Its just the bigger the WM the bigger the center part.

I used to grow pumkins for holloween when my kids where younger. Stopped for a while now that they are teenagers. Figure I would try it again this year. Kakai is the variety I am trying. The seeds dont have a shell. Never tasted them but not having to remove the shell sounds like a winner.

Thanks,

MOD