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--- garden:about:plants:cucurbit:melons [2015/09/29 09:16] – ↷ Links adapted because of a move operation davidbac
+++ garden:about:plants:cucurbit:melons [2015/09/30 12:06] (current) – davidbac
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+===== Melons =====
+I would never have thought to grow melons here in the Pacific Northwest. But a Master Gardener said (actually, boasted, I believe) that she grew melons up in Snohomish County, Washington. The idea appealed to me so I shopped seed suppliers for small, short season melons that might have a chance in our relatively cool and wet summer months. I chose the following varieties from Adaptive Seeds:
+  * Farthest North from Adaptive Seeds
+  * Oregon Delicious from Adaptive Seeds
+  * Minnesota Midget from Territorial Seed Company
+==== Planting ====
+I started all in pots in the house. All these guys are slow growers. Next time I'll use a warming pad and grow lights. I tried planting some directly in the soil at both Fall City gardens without success.
+==== Transplanting ====
+In the sandy loam I followed my typical regimen of mixing my basic organic fertilizer into the mounds and then transplanting young seedlings directly.
+In the clay soil I added compost, organic fertilizer, and lots of extra lime (agricultural line and Dolomite lime) to allow the plants better access to soil nutrients. I dissolved the lime in water and put it around the plants. Also, I used row cover material to keep in heat and protect from beetles and slugs.
+==== Growing ====
+All of the plants in the sandy loam seemed to require more water to stay vibrant so I watered deeply and a bit more often than I thought necessary.
+{{ :garden:about:plants:cucurbit:melons:gallery:img_1103dw.jpg?300|}}Strangely, the ones I planted in sandy loam did poorly. Some of the Farthest North and Oregon Delicious in loam suffered a severe leaf wilt. The Oregon Delicious never put on enough fruit to mention. I left the Farthest North on the denuded vine and harvested four small but nice melons that had good flavor.
+The melons (Farthest North and Oregon Delicious) that prospered were in clay soil that had the advantage of an over-wintered rye cover crop. Bugs, slugs and leaf wilt took out all but 3 of the 9 plants here. But I had one Farthest North that yielded a half dozen nice, small melons with excellent flavor. The Farthest North seeds were said to be a mix of different //Cucumis melo//, but only one variety got to the stage of recognizable fruit.
+The Oregon Delicious were the stars, ripening a half dozen large, flavorful melons.
+The Minnesota Midgets in either soil grew slowly (or died), a few blossomed, but never got close to ripening any fruit, so they were a bust. The plants were delicate, the flowers pretty, but only a few fruit set and way too late for a change to ripen before cool weather set in.
+==== Harvesting ====
+{{ :garden:about:plants:cucurbit:melons:gallery:2014melons15.jpg?300|Oregon Delicious - and they were!}}The Oregon Delicious were the best surprise. Large melons with great flavor. The skin was a bit thick (but that helped keep the slugs out of the sweet meat). The challenge with them was figuring out when to harvest. One that was a bit over-ripe and one that was a bit under-ripe looked identical. Probing, examining, considering color and texture failed to provide a clear picture of the point of optimum maturity.
+=== "Full slip" ===
+Supposedly it's easy to tell when the Oregon Delicious (and other varieties with netted skin) is ripe because the fruit pulls off easily or "slips" from the vine. It's still a bit of an art to know how much to pull on the vine, but when a melon is really ripe (full slip), it takes almost no pull.
+See photos on the [[garden:about:plants:cucurbit:melons:gallery|Melon photos page]].