# watermellon and cantaloupe.



## angel1237b (Jun 21, 2012)

i want to try these but we have a short growing season..they sell the seeds here so there must be a way...any tips would be helpful.. orrrr would i be wasting my time?..thanks


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## PHONETOOL (Dec 9, 2012)

These are what I ordered they are ready in 61 to 85 days

*Green Nutmeg Melon (61-85 days)
*

First noted by Fearing Burr in 1863.

Extra early 2-3 pound melons. Sweet green flesh, heavy aroma, netted skin, and sweet addition to breakfast.

Green nutmeg melon is a medium sized melon that will bear 4-5 melons to a vine.

Very prolific.

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I also ordered *Blacktail Mountain (70 days) watermelon*

Numerous heirloom melons - some brought from Russia, and other varieties developed by cold-climate breeders - mature within the 85-day window and are available early. Consider the spicy sweetness of 'Green Nutmeg,' which has been around more than 150 years. It's ripe in 80 days. Or think about planting `Golden Midget,' a pink watermelon with a rind that turns golden yellow when fully mature at 75 days.
Dr. Elwyn Mender of the University of New Hampshire created this open-pollinated, 6-inch melon in 1959. Another *extra-early (70 days) watermelon, 'Blacktail Mountain,' sets the flavor standard for all watermelons*, according to Amy Goldman, author of Melons for the Passionate Gardener. "The flesh color is scarlet, and the taste is juicy, crunchy and sweet. It's everything you ever want from a watermelon," says Goldman, who has grown more than 200 melon varieties.

SHORT-SEASON TRAITS

Smaller fruits and early flowering are traits that set apart melons that mature early in the growing season. Aaron Whaley of Seed Savers Exchange, a nonprofit organization that preserves heirloom varieties at Heritage Farm in Decorah, Iowa, says, "If a melon grows in our three-month season here, it will grow anywhere." Many of the best-tasting and most-attractive varieties grown at Heritage Farm have small nuts and ripen fast. 'Jenny Lind,' a green-fleshed cantaloupe that weighs about a pound, is ready to pick in 70 days. `Cream of Saskatchewan,' a super-sweet white-fleshed heirloom watermelon, weighs four to 10 pounds and ripens in about 80 days. So does `Sweet Siberian' watermelon, which Glenn Drowns of Sand Hill Preservation Center grows in his Calamus, Iowa garden. The yellow-fleshed melon weighs in at about eight pounds.

Drowns developed Amy Goldman's favorite, `Blacktail Mountain,' when he lived in Careywood, Idaho. The growing season there is only 75 days long; the six to 10-pound melons ripen in that short period of time. Compact foliage is another characteristic shared by short season varieties. Their vines and the distance between leaves (nodes) are shorter than larger, long-season melons. "I can go through a field of different melon varieties," Drowns says, "and tell immediately which ones are fast producers. The distance between nodes on the vines will be shorter. They flower earlier, too."

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Information source read more >> http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/2003-04-01/Best-Early-Melons.aspx#axzz2MqnLl9hv

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## Errol (Jun 21, 2012)

Get an early start by sowing seeds inside under light, a raised bed works great and then lay down black plastic to warm the soil. You might want a row cover also. Leave the black plastic on , and when ready to transplant just cut an x in the plastic where the plant goes. You might want to try the smaller ice box varitie of mellons, (sugar baby) they have a shorter growing . 
Good luck


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## angel1237b (Jun 21, 2012)

i have a roll of clear plastic..will this work in the garden?


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## Errol (Jun 21, 2012)

black plastic would be better. the black color will heat up quicker and hold the heat in to warm the soil. someone else might could tell you about the clear, I have always used black
have a good day
Errol


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## mida2nd (Mar 15, 2013)

I have used the clear plastic but we don't get very cold here. Only about a month of freezing temps. The clear plastic does help keep the plants from drying out but still lets the sun in.


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## monaraebeads (Jun 26, 2012)

I live in zone 7-8 in Arnold, CA. Last year I grew sugar baby watermelons and had minor success. The fruits were VERY small about 2-3" instead of 6-8". I started them indoor from seed and transplanted in May/June. They like lots of water and heat, so I grew them in black 5 gallon containers next to my bean poles/strings. They like to climb


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## Terry A (Jul 17, 2014)

*Cantaloupe and watermelons.*
































Cantaloupe and watermelons. Waiting for them to start bearing fruit.


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## Terry A (Jul 17, 2014)

I used black plastic and red mulch around the cantaloupe and black [plastic and brown mulch around the watermelon. 1 1/3 month old when pictures were taken and now 1 1/2 months old. When will these things start growing fruit?


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## rogjam (Jul 31, 2014)

Thanks for the advice Phonetool - I'd like to try growing some melons


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