How to Grow Cantaloupe in the Home Garden - Don't Throw Out Those Old Pantyhose!
For many home gardeners, growing cantaloupe is not considered a viable option. Due to limited space in the average urban garden, most consider this delicious fruit impossible to grow without sacrificing precious garden space. With a few simple modifications, almost any home garden can produce this luscious fruit.
After tasting the difference between a melon that a friend had grown in her large country garden and the store bought variety, I decided to try to grow some in my own garden. Having limited space, I knew I couldn't grow them in the traditional way. There simply would not be enough room for anything else if they were allowed to sprawl at will.
Ignoring the planting instructions on the seed packet, I began. Instead of planting in hills as suggested on the packet, I planted a single row along a section of the wire fence that borders my garden. Spacing the seeds about five or six inches apart, I planted an eight-foot long row. As the seeds germinated and the plants began to grow, I tied them to the fence and trained them to climb up their trellis. This solved the problem of having adequate growing space but that was only the beginning of the modifications that would be necessary to produce a harvest of melons.
As the summer progressed and the plants continued to grow, meticulous guidance to get the vines where I wanted them and to keep them from flopping down to the ground was needed. I also found that the plants grown this way required more water than when they are allowed to sprawl on the ground. Unlike their field grown counterparts, cantaloupe grown upright do not shade the ground and reduce evaporation like those whose vines are allowed to cover the earth under them. A generous amount of organic mulch around the base of the plants helped a little but more water was still a necessity.
When the plants started to set fruit, it was evident that some support would need to be provided to keep the weight of the maturing fruit from snapping off the vines. Preferring a material that would expand as the fruit grew larger, I decided to use nylon stockings! As each cantaloupe was about the size of a golf ball, I cut a generous length of nylon pantyhose and made a hammock to support each fruit. After securing each little hammock to the fence, daily checking and periodic adjustment of the support was necessary. As the fruits neared maturity, additional support was needed so, using strips of old bed sheets, I fashioned an additional sling to support each melon until it was ripe. Supporting the fruit in this way, we have enjoyed up to about twenty melons every year from our modest home garden.
Though this method was very successful in producing melons from the Hale's Best variety, several melons were lost when I tried growing larger fruited varieties. This method should work well for any variety producing fruit in the four to six pound range.
Happy Gardening!
Published by A Paxhia
Allie of all trades, master of a few! Alice is a registered nurse by profession. She is an avid gardener and animal enthusiast as well as an accomplished stained glass artisan. View profile
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23 Comments
Post a CommentI grow my melons and pumpkins on heavy duty A-Frame trellises. You can use the nylons or any stretchy fabric. For extra big pumpkins I wire 6X6 square boards under the fruit for support. The wire gives some with the weight but gives enough support combined with the vine that we seldom lose anything. I have grown 50+lb pumpkins that are as close to perfect as you can get. No blemishes and perfectly round.
Now I have a use for all those nylon shower scrunchie thingies I have accumulated.
HEY KAT!!
I by coincidence got some canties on my yard, and i can tell you that the color just depends on you, but i use to harvest them a couple of days before they change color like the ones you see at the market dont worry youll know when is time to harvest or you can do it earlier and let them mature on your kitchen, i wait becasue of the space on my freezer and table.:)
I compost my vegies and fruits, after putting compost in my yard I saw some plants growing so I let them be just to see what it was and it turned out to be cantaloupe so I just water them and now I have aleast fifteen or more cantaloupe and they are big too. I was woundering if I cut back some of the vines would it help the fruit grow biger?
I have several cantelopes growing, the biggest one is the size of a large football and the smallest is the size of a small football. They are all still green. I have never grown cantaloupe before and in Las Vegas it is hot but they are doing well. I am just curious due to the size of them. Will they change colors before they are picked or after? I am thinking before they are picked, but they will be huge and hopefully good. Anyone know how they grow in this hot climate and when to pick them?
Forget it. There has to be a better way. Whew!! I am exhausted just from reading this.
I am on my second cantaloupe attempt here in the Dallas area. The roly polies devoured them last year, so I am using a trellis and garlic tea to attempt to keep them at bay this year. The single melon we ate last year was delicious!
Yes you can grow them in Arizona and they do very well. I have mine in the sun all day and they don't wilt like the pumpkins and zuchinis. I have a 20 foot row of watermellons and cantaloupes and they grow quite fast here. I check them every day and they grow visibly. A week ago, my biggest one was the size of a walnut, now it's almost 4 inches around. They love lots of sun, BUT they must get plenty of water. I water them with one of those soaker hoses laid on the ground so less water is wasted.
I also let them sprawl on the ground, they shade the ground that way and I end up using less water.
yes you can grow them in NY, you can even put them in a container and with a nice support system you can make them grow up ... my grmas grew many wonderful melons in Ny!
check out the square ft gardener for those of you with lmited space!
This is what I did! Planted a row next to a fence line and am currently in the process of training the plants to go upwards on the fence. Glad i am not the only one who is/has attempted this way