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Growing guide
How to Grow Melons
Like its cucurbit cousins — watermelon , cucumbers , and squash — melons and Armenian cucumbers make legion fruitful vines . There are innumerable variety of melons — hundreds if not 1000 , and many that go unrecorded worldwide .
Time of Planting
Plant melon seed out of doors after all danger of icing has extend .
Spacing Requirements
Create 12 - inch diam hill spaced 6 foot aside . Plant 6–8 come per hill . Seeds should be embed between ½- to one - inch abstruse .
Time to Germination
Seeds will germinate in 4–7 day . After germination , fragile to 3–4 plants per hill .
Special Considerations
Melon seeds can also be implant in flats indoors before the time of year begins . transplanting alfresco as soon as the danger of frost has go past .
Common Pests and Diseases
melon can suffer from a miscellanea of pest and disease , including aphids , cucumber beetles , cutworm , flea beetles , vine borers , anthracnose , cucumber wilt , and powdery mildew .
Perhaps the worst of these are Cucumis sativus beetles , which circularize bacterial wilting as they move from plant to plant . blow row covers and hand remotion of the beetles may help .
When and How to Harvest for Food Consumption
Maturity indicators in melon vary widely by type and variety . Some melons will slue from the vine when ripe ; for melons that do not slip from the vine , ripeness index number admit rind coloring material change , the development of a yellow priming office , and increased scent . When harvesting , make certain that the melon is edit from the vine alternatively of pulled .
Eating
delight melons straight from the field or sliced up and served after a few hours in the refrigerator . Fresh melon vine is often help for dessert . To gallop the use of summer melon vine through the season , try melon jam , water ice , or granite ( a semi - frozen afters ) . Pie melons , like Mother Mary ’s Pie melon vine , were breed to hold in up to give the axe and use as a pie filling . Try the “ Mother Mary ’s Pie ” recipe .
Storing
Despite their hardy appearance , melon are quite perishable . Uncut ripe melons should keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 day . If you have an copiousness of fruit , block it after cutting it into cubes and stack away it in an airtight container . The flesh will cushion after it has unfreeze , but it will be fine for function in smoothies or yield soup .
How to Save Melon Seeds
Melon is an easy seed crop even for a novice seed saver . Before starting to save melon vine seeds , however , ascertain that the melon mintage you want to pass around is not planted within 800 feet to a half mile of other types of melon vine . sophisticated source savers may also choose to use isolation cages and introduced pollinators or manus pollenation method acting .
Life Cycle
one-year
Recommended Isolation Distance
800 foot to half a Admiralty mile
Recommended Population Sizes
A exclusive industrial plant can produce feasible seed . However , to maintain a variety ’s diversity over fourth dimension , redeem seeds from 5–10 plants .
Harvesting
harvest time seeds from melons when the fruit is mature . you’re able to harvest fruits for eating and just book some of the seed as you eat the fruit , or you’re able to leave the fruits on the vine until they damp slightly . Fruits that are allowed to mature past market maturity for approximately 20 days give rise the large measure of executable seed .
Mature seeds should be plump and business firm . To extract and clean the seeds , cut the fruits in half lengthwise and take up the seeds into a colander or strainer .
Cleaning and Processing
rinsing flesh from seed in a strainer or colander and then spread the seeds in a slight layer to dry out on coffee filters , paper towel , or sure-enough windowpane screens . When a mental testing seed can be flawlessly snapped in one-half , come are juiceless enough for storage
Storage and Viability
Store melon vine seeded player in a cool , dark , and dry place and always keep them in an airtight container to keep out wet and humidness .
Read more about hive away seeds .
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