Wednesday, August 6, 2014

The First Cantaloupe Sighting


This year I decided to try growing cantaloupe again. It has been a few years since my last failed effort and hope always springs eternal with this gardener. I picked the variety "Minnesota Midget". It is described as "a super sweet, softball sized muskmelon". It does well in northern climates, maturing in 60-70 days. The vines reach 3-4" in length and each plant can produce 6-8 melons. I started 12 seeds this Spring and they all came up. I ended up transplanting four plants in the kitchen garden and eight plants down in the big garden. All of the plants have been growing well. They have branched out, have green healthy leaves ,and are covered with yellow blooms. The problem has been almost all of the blooms have been male. I read that excessive heat will cause the muskmelons to produce only male blooms. I don't know if 90 degree days count as excessive or not. I do know that I have been searching and searching for my first melon for weeks  without any success. So I was really please tonight when I discovered, up in the kitchen garden, the first set melon. It was hiding underneath some leaves and is already almost as large as a hen's egg.. Hopefully this is the first of many to come.

3 comments:

Jennifer said...

having the same problem with my cantelope....all male blossoms.

This makes me hopeful!I will be on the lookout for my first set melon!

Margaret said...

That is so true - us gardeners rarely give up. And even when we do, our memory fades and we usually end up trying again in a few years...just in case. Good luck with your cantaloupes!

Mindy said...

I just can't get over how cute they are as wee little ones. I hope you get some to mature. In super exciting news at my house, one of my two watermelon plants has a baby!!!! I found him yesterday, the size of a bead. Lol