Melon Update: 3.5 months
I picked my first ripe melon today. It was an arava melon.It probably could have stayed on the vine a day or 2 longer but when i picked it up it slipped from the vine. It started turning yellow a few days ago so it ripened pretty quickly once the color change started.
Unfortunately we did not turn off the watering system 2 weeks before ripening like i wanted to and the weather has been cooler the last 2 weeks (high 70’s low 80’s) so it was not as sweet as I was hoping. It tasted like a honeydew from the supermarket 🙁 when i am more used to melons from the farmers market that are sweeter.
Here are 2 more Arava melons from the same vine. I have more hope for these because the weather is warmer again (high 80’s low 90’s) and i haven’t watered it for a week now. I think these will ripen by next weekend.
Here is the wood garden with the trellis. Here are some small Charentais and an Arava on the trellis. These melon’s are about 3-4 weeks behind the melons in the cinderblock garden so hopefully if the weather stays warm they will be ready late august (for arava and honey orange) to mid-september (for charentais).
Charentais melon in the cinderblock garden. I have 2 bigger melons (this is the middle sized one and smallest on vine) and 2 smaller melons (about size of tangerine). I think I will get the first ripe charentais in a week or 2.
Honey Orange melon on the trellis in the wood gardenbed. There are 2 bigger melons about the size of a grapefruit on the vine and 2-3 smaller melons that are bigger than golf balls.
Charentais melon in the cinderblock garden. I have 2 bigger melons (this is the middle sized one and smallest on vine) and 2 smaller melons (about size of tangerine). I think I will get the first ripe charentais in a week or 2.
Honey Orange melon on the trellis in the wood gardenbed. There are 2 bigger melons about the size of a grapefruit on the vine and 2-3 smaller melons that are bigger than golf balls.
Dear Tammy, I have grown melons for the past two years with no success. This summer, very wet, cool, yet in the 80's this august I finally have six melons larger than grapefruit. I planted Canarie Jaune, Santon a Charentais type melon and Superstar a muskmelon. So far, all six look like they might be all muskmelons. I have two yellow melons that are only a week old on the vine and they are yellow (not dying) just in color. Do your melons cross pollenate? I want to thank you so much for being the only site on the web where you can see the month by month or week by week growth of melons. I've searched for over a month and cannot find one scale with pictures of how a melon looks while its growing. You've given me hope and I will definitely plant more melons next year. Mine are growing on a large circular fence. No melons grow in the center, only on the three and a half foot round wire fence. I have the melons near the ground on terracotta pots and the others on the fence in slings made out of bird netting. It works! They are now larger than grapefruit and the netting has begun to form. I just don't know how ripe to let them go before the midnight troop of raccoons take them all! Many thanks for your words on melons and great photographs
! Sincerely, Mrs. G in RI
Hi Cynthia,
thanks for checking out my blog. This is only my first year with a garden so I do not have too much experience. From what I have read, melons can cross pollinate but you usually see that the fruits from the seeds (next generation) will be affected. I have read some people claim that their cucumber crossed with a melon and created some strange hybrid but this is not supposed to happen and others will dispute that any cross would not show up on your plant until the seeds of the fruit (melon) are planted.
charentais are not supposed to be netted and have stripes on them. I am not familiar with the other 2 melons you are growing. Is canarie jaune just a regular canary melon? if so you should def. be able to tell them all apart because they are very distinct looking.
do you have any pics?
good luck with your melons.
Thanks for the reply. The Canary Yellow melons never got any larger than over an inch, turned yellow and brown then fell off; they were dying. Big disappointment. My Santon's (charentais type are just starting to form melons. Don't think they'll make it into the kitchen this season. Guess I'll have to be satisfied from 6 'superstar' muskmelons. Our rainy summer did not help the melons either! I'll try and take pics this week.