Cantaloupes

[htnseymour]

First year with my cantaloupe plants. Planted two. So far have gotten four, but just last night I saw 12 new melons starting and two that are about softball size. The ones we picked were as sweet as candy.

 

[catman529]

they are my favorite. I have my garden mulched in woven landscape fabric and wood chips, but I put my melons in a separate bare patch that I weeded by hand in the spring. But of course more weeds came back and after the drought was over, they grew in so fast I lost control and one of the guys involved with the community garden tilled it all in. So my new cantaloupes are mere seedlings planted in place of some cucumbers that I ripped out. I hope to get one or two fruit before the frost......

 

[ROUGH COUNTRY HUNTER]

i love fresh cantaloupe,hard to beat

 

[Nimrod777]

Ate our first homegrown cantaloupe last night! Glad I checked it, as it was just starting to get soft on one side. Sweet as could be!

Whatever cheap variety I planted had lots of blooms but very few took. I think we have only one more melon out of 2 or 3 plants that is growing to any size.

 

[catman529]

I might cry..... I planted too many cantaloupes, squash and pumpkins in a separate patch that I carefully weeded early in the season, but the weeds came back so thick and fast after the drought, I did not catch up with them, and eventually one of the guys with the community garden had to bush hog it. I re-planted some cantaloupe in my main patch where the cucumbers were, but last I checked, their growth was slow and rather bug-eaten. I did eat one or two from other growers in the garden but none of mine produced. Lesson learned, going to downsize next year. I can't keep up with 32 tomatoes, 30 peppers, 9 hills of cucumber, some okra, and a whole other patch of cucurbits that got overgrown.

 

[DOC1187]

i love fresh cantaloupe,hard to beat

x2

 

[Inkstainz]

I might cry..... I planted too many cantaloupes, squash and pumpkins in a separate patch that I carefully weeded early in the season, but the weeds came back so thick and fast after the drought, I did not catch up with them, and eventually one of the guys with the community garden had to bush hog it. I re-planted some cantaloupe in my main patch where the cucumbers were, but last I checked, their growth was slow and rather bug-eaten. I did eat one or two from other growers in the garden but none of mine produced. Lesson learned, going to downsize next year. I can't keep up with 32 tomatoes, 30 peppers, 9 hills of cucumber, some okra, and a whole other patch of cucurbits that got overgrown.

wow you grew a lot this year. i bet that was a lot to keep up with.

 

[catman529]

I might cry..... I planted too many cantaloupes, squash and pumpkins in a separate patch that I carefully weeded early in the season, but the weeds came back so thick and fast after the drought, I did not catch up with them, and eventually one of the guys with the community garden had to bush hog it. I re-planted some cantaloupe in my main patch where the cucumbers were, but last I checked, their growth was slow and rather bug-eaten. I did eat one or two from other growers in the garden but none of mine produced. Lesson learned, going to downsize next year. I can't keep up with 32 tomatoes, 30 peppers, 9 hills of cucumber, some okra, and a whole other patch of cucurbits that got overgrown.

wow you grew a lot this year. i bet that was a lot to keep up with.

yeah and between work and fishing, only times to go in the garden were in the middle of the 90+ degree afternoon so I did not get in the garden as much as I should have.

 

[DaveB]

All the vining crops, hand pollenate to get maximum fruit started and then pinch off all but three or 4 per vine.
Cantelopes seem to vine like mad.....isn't there a hybrid variety that is defined as "compact"?