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I'm very new to having any land to plant anything. So when I see something I like, I think about whether my land could produce more of them. The photo is of a cantaloupe (Cucumis melo) that I bought at a nearby grocer, sliced off a quarter for breakfast, then when I was looking at the seeds that I removed with a spoon before eating that quarter melon, it occurred to me "hey these are seeds for a plant that I like!"
Key questions: are these likely to be *live* seeds or sterile, incapable of producing more of the same plants? If live, do they need any special kind of earth or of advance earth treatment to be planted in? Once planted in the ground, what is the best watering schedule before anything even perks its head up out of the ground? Assuming something does come up, what watering schedule thereafter? Guidance on any part of this question shall be appreciated.
1. Seeds from a market cantaloupe are usually viable.
2. They are usually hybrids or crosses, so they wll usually not be true to cultivar. Usually they are good melons however.
3. They like to planted in the ground altho the Earth Box folks are having success. They like loose moderately fertile soil. The soil neds to worked to a depth of 8 -12 inches and extend for about 4-5 feet around each plant. Un less you live in the desert, no water should be needed until hot dry weather arrives. Here I can usually grow them without irrigation, but if the vines droop exposing the melons it is time to add a bit of water.
Thanks Farmerdill. I have begun work preparing the dirt that I've got to be much closer to "loose moderately fertile soil". There is quite a lot to be done since I start with a hard compacted mixture of sand, gravel, rock, and clay which acts more like concrete than dirt. Extremely difficult to get into with a trowel so I am using a Heavy Duty Roto-Tiller to start work on it. Requires wetting down so as to respond favorably even to the Roto-Tiller. I'm more likely to go for the 8 inch depth than the 12 inch simply because of the difficulty of penetrating the soil that I start with. Once I get the depth dug with the Roto-Tiller (and en route to a certain extent), I shall be removing the larger of the rocks and incorporating quantities of Kellogg Amend into the backfill. The soil conditioner people talk in terms of one bag (1.5 cubic yards) for 9 square feet of conditioned soil and I'm tentatively doing 120 square feet for this project so I shall need about 15 bags of the soil conditioner before completing the backfill.
You mentioned "Unless you live in the desert" relative to water needs. Yup, you guessed it from my Barstow CA (Mojave Desert) location. I am in fact in the desert with desert land to start with and no natural precipitation anticipatable until at least the August rainy season (and typically not all *that* much even then although it tends to be concentrated into flood conditions when it does arrive). So my original question about water needs remains a live one, there being no natural source to provide any at all and, so far, what you've said is that paying attention to the vines drooping so as to expose the melons is the indicator for adding "a bit of water". Anything further about "how much" needed under absolutely arid conditions?
Basicly, One inch of water per week, from whatever source. Here most of the time we have adequate rainfall early. Soil needs to be moist but not wet. and a deep soaking one a week is preferable to frequent shallow watering. You want the roots to down deep.
They were coming along soooo nicely. I was starting on the essential thinning process, grouching only because the seedlings weren't transplanting to other areas at all but promptly shrivelling up in new locations. I had three nicely filled out rows of little seedlings in my open front yard resulting from the seed contents of that original cantaloupe. Watered them one day. Went back to water them again two days later and they were GONE. Only a tiny few extremely close to the ground seedlings remained in my completely filled out cantaloupe patch which had many lovely prospects for full growth and fruiting. The attached photo shows the suspected culprit who accounted for the difference in that 36 hour period.
I'm in mourning at the moment for my gone forever cantaloupe crop. Not sure I even want to try to grow something that has to be so vigorously defended as special fencing (especially not in the open front yard, although I might try it elsewhere) and traps are also not really permissible in the open front yard due to the potential for curious children getting themselves into trouble. But I'm wondering whether it is now getting a bit late in the season to be trying to start over, even with rabbit fencing and/or humane rabbit traps and transport devices to try to protect the crop. Any thoughts on the subject?
Please don't give up - even if the experiment has to wait until next year.
Bloodmeal. If you sprinkle some around your plants, the scent will help drive away the cute little poachers. We used to use it with amazing effectiveness when we were gardening in Maine. Best of all, when it eventually washes into the ground, it helps the soil.
