Melon

When you are planning your summer garden, you cannot forget to grow melons. You might be wondering then, how do melons grow? It isn’t too difficult to grow melons.

Tips to grow melons

There are plenty of tips to grow melons that you will hear when you tell people you are planting melons. One of the best is to remember that the soil should be slightly acidic – with a pH around 6.0 to 6.5.

Another of the better tips to grow melons is that they cross¬breed easily with other vining plants such as cucumbers and squash. Therefore, plant them away from these plants so no cross¬breeding occurs.

Melons are a warm season plant that truly enjoys average temperatures between 70 and 80 degrees F. After all danger of frost has left the area, and after the ground is warmed, you can cultivate the area well and remove any sticks and rocks. Form small hills in the soil because melons are vining.

How to plant melons

Planting the melons should be done with three to five seeds per hill about two inches apart and one inch deep. Water the seeds well after planting melons. Once the growing melon plants come through the soil, wait until two of them are taller than the others and remove the rest.

If you live in a colder climate, growing melons can still be done. You could plant the seeds in the ground and use black plastic mulch, allowing the seeds to grow up through the plastic. The plastic will keep the ground warm around the growing melons as well as help keep weeds to a minimum.

Growing melons require about an inch or two of water a week. Make sure you don’t forget to water them when there are periods of no rain. Also, they should be fertilized every two to three weeks.

When the plants begin to flower, do not worry if the flower wilts and no melons appear. The second flowering is actually the female flowers which produce the fruit. The first flowers are male.

When it gets closer to harvesting the growing melons, you want to be sure to slow down on the watering. Stopping the watering at the end will allow for a sweeter fruit. Watering them toward harvest will water down the flavor.