The melon in the middle,
photographed growing
on January 7...
.... made a delicious dessert
for my birthday dinner
on February 12 ...
... while the whole rock melon on the left, below, was perfuming the air in the glasshouse by February 16 ...
... and was an even more
delicious dessert on
February 18.
I have never tried to grow melons of any kind before, since it just isn't warm enough for long enough outside in Canterbury. Now that I have a glasshouse, I am surprised at how easy it is. I sowed the seeds of both kinds of melons on August 22, 2010 and they germinated well. At the end of September I transplanted the little plants into 9 litre plastic buckets (the cheapest kind), with holes punched in the bottom and filled with a 'vege mix' compost. I put the melon buckets on the shelves of the glasshouse, watered the plants every day, and fed them with Biofeed liquid organic fertiliser every fortnight. Now I am enjoying some of the best-tasting melons I have ever eaten.
Did I have beginner's luck, or is it really this easy? I have some ideas on how to do it better and get even more melons next year, so we'll see. I did have some melons (two in buckets and one in the soil) at ground level in the glass house, and they haven't produced, so it is definitely good to have them higher up, where it is warmer, and less shaded. I also need to be more organised about nipping off the growing tips and surplus flowers before a great tangle of overgrown vines requires trimming and untangling. But for now I will just marvel that water and heat and the miracle of photosynthesis - with just a little nudging from me - produced these sweet and juicy treats.
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