A Little Bit of Summery Goodness

Earlier this year after eating a rockmelon (cantaloupe), my husband saved and dried the seeds then planted them to see whether they would grow....and grow they did!

It was very exciting to see our own rockmelons growing but unfortunately I noticed that they were going rotten as they were being eaten by some creepy crawlies so I asked the members on the Down to Earth Forums for advice so that we could harvest at least a couple before the colder weather hit.

 

 

 There were various suggestions including putting shredded paper under them or plastic bags. As we didn't have any shredded paper available at the time I put a plastic bag under each rockmelon as an experiment and...lo and behold...I found that they started growing well.

The vines are starting to dry off now on the twenty five or so rockmelons that are left.





 

 

I made a smoothie the other day with some frozen boysenberries from last year's crop which we saved from the birds somehow, a small rockmelon, home made yoghurt and a teaspoon or so of maple syrup.

 

 



 

It was quite a refreshing drink.

 

Usually I just slice the rockmelon up and eat it with a fork.

 

I read on the Green Harvest website that melons require a long, hot growing season so we were very fortunate to grow as many as we did as it certainly hasn't been as hot here as it has been down south and many of our summer days were quite mild. Seed germinates best at 23 - 35 degrees Celsius. The growing tip should be pinched out to encourage branching and when the fruit forms the vine should be pinched back to two leaves beyond the fruit.

 

 

 

On The Garden Botanicus Perfectus the advice is to mix composted poultry manure through the soil before planting and to follow up feeding with liquid fish emulsion. Plant the seeds in full sun in an area where there are lots of bees for pollination as they have poor fruit set. Make sure the rockmelons are shaded by the leaves as they are prone to sunscald during the hot weather. The foliage should be sprayed with bicarb soda (1 teaspoon to 1 litre of water) as soon as powdery mildew is noticed.

 

It is so nice to just be able to walk outside and pick a rockmelon when I feel like one.  For some reason I didn't think they would grow up here on top of the range so it has been a pleasant surprise to learn that they do and next year I will plant some seeds earlier in summer so that we can harvest them for a longer period.

 

Have you tried to grow rockmelons and have you had any success?