The Melon Family: Cantaloupes, Muskmelons, and Honeydew

The melon family, (Cucumix melo) is a  much larger family than most people are familiar with.  And like many families, its members range from the ordinary, extraordinary, to  the odd. One melon missing from this family is the watermelon.  It belongs to an entirely different classification, (Citrullus lanatus), but both families thrive under the same growing conditions.  

History
Not all melons are sweet.  Melons are thought to originate in Africa and many melons are grown for pickling rather than eating or used as a summer squash in various dishes.  

Here in America we have fixated on the sweet melons which are definitely worth a gardeners attention because these juicy gems pack up the sugar during the final growing days.  This irresistible sweetness will be lacking in a store bought melon.

When a melon is ripe in the field you can actually smell it.  Interestingly in Europe before the luxury of daily bathing fragrance melons were grown. Ladies of the upper class carried a small pocket melon called Queen Anne's to mask the effects of no daily bath.

Types of Melons

All varieties of Cucumis melo will cross with each other.  They will not cross with watermelons or any members of the Cucurbitaceae family.

I mentioned this is a large family of many unfamiliar members.  There are 7 subspecies of recognized groups of melons.

True Cantaloupes

True cantaloupes are not the "cantaloupes" which Americans are familar with.  True canaloupes are grown in Europe.  They have rough scaled rinds with mature fruit that does not slip from the vine.  The skin is not nettled

Chito Group

Chito melons are small lemon sized melons used for pickling.  They include mango melon, garden lemon, and melon apple.

Conomon Group

Are oblong or club shaped fruits grown in Aisa.  They too are used for pickling

Queen Anne's pocket melon

These are also known as pomegranate or plum granny.  They are very fragrant and about the size of an orange.

Flexuosus Group

The popular Armenian cucumber is in this group.  They are also called Snake melons.  Armenians always have a place in my garden they are delicious eaten fresh or can be pickled.

Inodorus Group

This group includes honeydew, crenshaw, and casabas.  Their flesh is either white or green.

Reticulatus Group

The common muskmelon which Americans call the cantaloupe are in this group as well as Persian melons.  They have the familiar nettled rind and firm orange flesh.  As gardeners know, they slip from the vine when ripe.  

If learning of the many subspecies of melons has intrigued you, and you are already planning on planting some new exotic variety, then you will want to check out these seed sources.

Baker Creek Seeds

Seed Saver's Exchange
Pinetree Seeds 

Planting Guide

Melons love to bask in the sun and are heat loving so planting in the sunniest spot of the garden is helpful. In cooler climates putting down black or red plastic mulch will warm the soil more to their liking. Hot caps or low tunnels may be necessary in some zones.  I am in Zone 5 and plant the end of May up until mid June.

 Melons need a loose soil and rich in organic matter. Direct sowing in the garden seems to work best. 

 Dig a hole at least 6 inches by 6 inches and mix in a compost along with a handful of dry organic fertilizer.   Mix the amendments with your soil and pat down.

Plant 3 seeds 3x the width of the seed in each prepared area.

Be sure to leave plenty of room for the vines.  Space 3-6' apart and alternate plantings between closely placed rows.  Melons also do well in a raised bed with a short trellis nearby to grow on.  

As the plants begin to vine put down a thick layer of mulch to prevent drying out and protect leaves from soil borne disease.  

Water generously especially when fruiting. Drought stressed plants will not be as productive nor as sweet.

Flowering

The male flowers are the first to appear.  Perhaps it's an ego thing. They appear at the leaf joint on the main stem and on large side shoots.  Female flowers form later on secondary side shoots.  Melons produce many flowers but each vine will probably only mature 3-4 fruits.  Melons abort a large majority of female blossoms.  Gardeners get concerned when they see an egg sized melon shrivel up and die.  This too is normal.  The energy from that fruit is absorbed into the vine.  Remember only 3-4 fruits mature per vine.

Fertilizing

Melons benefit from additional fertilizer.  Fertilize with fish emulsion and sea kelp when the true leaves appear, blossoms appear and fruit sets.  A manure tea is also beneficial.

Handle with Care!

The vines are very fragile and do not like rough handling.  If you have to redirect them do so gently.

Disease and Pests

  Prevention the best option.  Do not over crowd plants so the leaves dry out during the day.  Overhead watering is not recommended. Be sure to rotate each year where you plant melons. In between your plantings of melons you can plant dried beans to better utilize space. 



Disease Prevention Spray

I have found it beneficial to spray mature vines periodically with Neem, fish emulsion, and sea kelp .  If fungal diseased has been a problem add Serenade.  Serenade is a bacteria used to prevent or stop colonization of fungus.  Neem is a systemic fungicide and pesticide.  Both are safe for beneficial insects.

Striped and Spotted Cucumber Beetle

As the beetle feeds on your plants it not only damages leaves but can spread bacterial wilt.  Bacterial wilt causes leaves to wilt.  To determine if it is bacterial wilt pull a stem apart.  If it has a sticky white substance inside, it is probably bacterial wilt and the entire plant should be removed.

Row covers can be used to protect plants until the female flowers develop.  Bees and small flies are necessary for pollination so covers need to be removed at that time.


Powdery Mildew 

Appears as white areas on leaves.  The fungus will use some of the vine's sugars to fuel its growth which may result in less sweet melons.  Prune off newly infected leaves.  Neem oil, Serenade,or a homemade mixture of 1 tsp baking soda to 1 qt of water can be used to stop the spread.


Routine Prevention Spray

I have found it helpful to spray periodically with the following combination in a one gallon sprayer:

Neem Oil

Serenade if fungal disease is a problem

Sea Kelp 

 Fish emulsion

Neem is both a systemic pesticide and fungicide.  Serenade is a fungicide. Sea Kelp and fish emulsion  are foliar fertilizers, Kaolin Clay (Surround) can be added as a deterrent if you have severe pest pressure.

Harvesting

When a muskmelon is ripe is smells ripe and will slip from the vine when you press where the vine connects to the fruit.  The skin between the netting also turns from green to tan or yellow.  The netting becomes very rough.

Honeydew are very smooth when immature.  As they mature they develop what looks like stretch marks and a sticky surface.

Enjoying Your Melons

Be sure that you plant a variety you actually want.  Remember not all melons are the sweet fresh eating type so choose a variety to suit your purpose.

Fresh eating is the best way to enjoy melons.  If I have too many ripen at once I cube and freeze them for smoothies or juicing.

The Fall Garden: How to Plant & What to Plant

If you don't have a fall garden you are missing out on a second crop of the cool season crops, and it is also one of the easiest times of year to garden- fewer weeds, pest, and disease. You also have the added benefit of absolutely gorgeous weather and fall colors to enjoy.

Here are links to learn more about extending your season into the fall and crop information for a great fall harvest.  Plan ahead next year to enjoy a fall season of harvest. 

Principles of Fall and Winter Gardening

Growing Carrots

Rutabagas

Parsley

Culinary Herbs: Grown From Seed

Culinary Herbs Grown from Transplants

Thyme and Lemon Thyme

Carrots

Growing Carrots

Sorrel

Meet the Not So Popular Spring Crops

Growing Spring Greens

Meet the Cool Crops of Spring

Blue Curled Kale

Broccoli & Cauliflower: A Royal Treat

Fordhook Swiss Chard

Cardinal Swiss Chard

Growing, Harvesting, & Cooking with Swiss Chard

New Zealand Spinach

New Zealand Spinach

Growing Spinach

Harvesting & Drying Herbs

Cinnamon Basil

Herbs are one of the easiest plants to grow, harvest, and preserve.  They are beautiful mixed among flowers and vegetables and have both culinary and medicinal uses. An added bonus is they are virtually pest free.  Today I'm am freeze drying basil, cinnamon basil, thyme, and peppermint. To learn how to grow herbs and additional ways to preserve herbs check out these posts:

A Culinary Herb Garden: Herbs to Grow from Seed

A Culinary Herb Garden: Herbs Grown Best from Transplants

Harvesting Herbs:

The best time to harvest herbs is in the morning when the oils are highest in concentration.  Start harvesting basil when the flower stalks just begin to appear.  You can cut down the plant by 1/2 or 1/3 for harvesting and the regrowth and side shoots will give you future harvests.

Thyme and peppermint can be harvested throughout the season.  Harvest before flowers form. Both thyme and peppermint are perennials that will regrow the following year.  All mints are invasive so its best to plant them in pots.

Basil

Drying Herbs

So now that we harvested our herbs, lets preserve these herbs.  There are numerous ways to preserve herbs.  Some can be frozen in oil, used to flavor oils and vinegars, but most people are more familiar with using dried herbs. With the cost of herbs so high, it is very economical to grow and dry your own.

Today I am freeze drying my herbs.  Freeze dried herbs retain more of the original color and are used more like fresh herbs.  You can also use a dehydrator to dry your herbs.

1.  Wash herbs immediately after picking and pat dry with a paper towel.

2.  For large leafed herbs like basil I cut off the individual leaves.  I find cutting with scissors is the fastest method.

3.  For small leaved herbs like oregano, marjoram, and thyme I dry the entire stem and then after drying you can run your finger down each stem and remove just the leaves.

Thyme and Peppermint

4.  Place the leaves on dehydrator trays or freeze dry tray.

5  Immediately place in the freeze dryer.  I do not pre-freeze herbs when freeze drying.

6.  For a dehydrator set the temperature for 110 F and process until brittle.

Freeze Dried Basil

Storing Herbs:

Herbs like a cool, dark, and dry place.  Herbs can be placed in mylar bags with an oxygen absorber for longer storage.  

For those herbs you intend to use throughout the year, find an airtight jar to store them.  You can use small canning jars or cute decorative jars with a seal.

Food Proccessors

You can crush the herbs in a ziplock bag, but I prefer to use my food processor.  Use the chopping blade and chop until fine.  The smell of the crushed herbs is amazing!  Be sure to wash and throughly dry the the processor before doing a different herb. 

                          Spice Storage Jars 

Cucumbers: So Many Flowers; So Few Fruits!

Understanding flowers and  bees may answer your questions about why so many flowers and so little fruits  are setting on your cucumber, melon, or squash plants. Squash, melons, and cucumber belong to the family of cucurbits and they have a unique flowering method. Melons, cucumbers and squash are monoecious meaning they produce both male and female flowers on the same plant.

Male flowers are produced before female flower.  So that could be one reason you have no fruit. Early in the season female flowers may not have developed yet. 

 For fruit to set, pollen from male flowers must be transferred to the female flower.  This is done by bees whether native or honeybees.  If no bees are present there will be no fruit.  If few bees are present and pollination is poor, the result will be few and misshapen fruits.  Drought stress can also cause misshapen fruit if bees are plentiful.  

Male & Female Flowers

So how do you tell a male flower from a female flower?  This is easiest to do in squash.  All female flowers have a miniture fruit at the base of the flower.  

 The stigma of the female flower of a squash.

 The flowers of this particular pumpkin are very large so it is easy to see the bulge or ovary of the female flower.  

Male flowers have straight stems with no bulge at the base.

A male squash flower with the stamin that produce pollen in the center. Bees are busy at work in this flower.  The pollen will stick to the bees and transfer the pollen to a female flower.
 

Notice that the stem at the base of a male flower is straight with no bugle or fruit shaped ovary.  Male flowers are viable for only one day.
 

After a day the flower shrivels up and dies.  Each day new male flowers open. 


In cucumbers and melons, male flowers have very short stems and grow in clusters of  3-5 flowers. There will be an abundance of male flowers and very few female.

 Another male flower

Notice at the base of each male flower is a straight stem.

Female flowers grow individually on longer stems with an ovary that resembles a miniature cucumber at the base. They are hard to find because the male flowers out number them.

 I had to hunt to find this female cucumber flower.

 A pollinated female flower of an Armenian cucumber.

An immature pickling cucumber.  You can see the shriveled flower at the end.


Hand Pollinating

If bees are not present or too few in number, then hand pollinating is an option.  Pollen is yellow and produced in the center of the male flower.  Use an small paintbrush to transfer the pollen to the stigma of the female flower or tear off the petals of the male flower and roll it in the center of the femal flower. 

 Gather the pollen from several different male flowers. Use only freshly opened flowers. This occurs in the morning.

Hand pollinating cucumbers can be tedious.  It is often difficult to find female flowers.  
 
If you provide a water source, lots of nectar producing flowers that attract pollinators, and have healthy cucumber plants you are less likely to have pollination issues.

Native Pollinators 

Reasons for Poor Pollination

The fact that the individual flowers of cucrubits remain open only for a single day means they must be pollinated that day or the flowers drop from the vine.  If the weather is not favorable for bees then  flowers that open that day will not be pollinated and set fruit. 

Bees  are hard workers but do take off windy, rainy, or sometimes overcast, cool days.  They prefer bright sunny days to do their work.

Many seeds are produced inside a cucumber, squash, and melon.  Amazingly each pollen grain is responsible the development of a single seed.  Numerous bees visit each flower to accomplish that task. Providing an environment attractive to both honeybees and native bees is helpful.

 Avoid chemical pesticides and if using an organic spray do so in the evening after pollinators are finished with their work

Healthy cucurbit plants are essential to set fruit.  Powdery mildew, leaf spot etc can be prevented by trellising vines off the ground to allow for good air circulation.

Mulching around cucumbers and regular adequate watering are also essential.

 
Armenian and Summer Dance are my favorite varieties for slicing cucumbers.  Most pickling cucumber varieties seem to do well.