Beginner’s Guide to Growing Melons

April 24, 2025 Jordan Charbonneau Leave a comment

Melons are one joy of the summer garden. They’re sweet, juicy, and aromatic, but they can be a little tricky to grow. In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know to have success growing melons or muskmelons (Cucumis melo var. reticulatus).

Muskmelons include green-fleshed and orange-fleshed melons and are often confused with cantaloupes. Cantaloupes are muskmelons, but not all muskmelons are cantaloupes. We only carry one true cantaloupe, Noir des Carmes.

We have a separate post on growing watermelons (Citrullus lanatus), which are a different species with slightly different needs.

Choosing a Variety

Melon diseases aren’t a significant issue for many growers, but they can be a problem for some. If your garden has a history of melon diseases like Alternaria leaf spot, rust, powdery mildew, downy mildew, and Fusarium wilt. It’s best to stick with disease-resistant varieties.

Thankfully, there are many good options. Here are a few of our disease resistant melons and what they’re resistant to:

Delicious 51 PMR Muskmelon (fusarium wilt race 1)
Eden Gem (Rocky Ford) Muskmelon (rust)
Edisto 47 Muskmelon (alternaria leaf spot, powdery mildew, and downy mildew)
Hales Best Muskmelon (powdery mildew)
Old Time Tennessee Muskmelon (downy mildew)
Top Mark Muskmelon (downy and powdery Mildew)
Trifecta Muskmelon (downy mildew)

Preparing the Soil for Growing Melons

A good melon harvest starts with good soil. These tender fruits are picky about their growing conditions.

First, get a soil test and ensure the pH of your soil is about 7, but no lower than 6. Melons will cannot thrive in soil that’s too acidic and won’t produce well.

Loose, warm, well-drained sandy loam is ideal for melons. If you have clay soil, you will need to work in a good deal of organic matter. Melons will fail in peat, muck, or heavy clay. No matter what your soil looks like, it’s best to add nutrient-rich finished compost before planting.

If your soil isn’t ideal, consider Pike Muskmelon, which was bred for growing in unirrigated clay soil. Pike produces 3 pound fruits on unirrigated clay or 7 pound fruits on good irrigated soil.

When to Plant Melons?

Muskmelons are extremely sensitive to temperature and have no frost tolerance. Wait to plant melons outdoors until all danger of frost has passed and soil temperatures have reached 70°F. When starting seeds indoors, sow your melons about 2 to 4 weeks before your last frost date.

Timing is key when planting melons. Seedling exposure to cold early in a plant’s life can cause melons to fail to set fruit later in the season.

Depending on your growing season and the variety you select, you may be able to plant multiple successions of melons. For example, growers in most of the Southeast can get multiple successions of a fast-growing melon like Delicious 51 PMR Muskmelon, which matures in just 77 days.

Melon Seedlings — This photo shows a very young melon seedling in the top left and an older melon seedling at right.

Direct Sow or Transplant?

You can direct sow or transplant melons into your garden, but each method has a few benefits and drawbacks.

No matter which method you choose, you want to water your seeds carefully. While they should remain consistently moist, over-watering can cause melon seeds to rot.

Direct Sowing Melons

Direct sowing melons is less work and may be easier on the plants. Melons have very sensitive root systems that don’t tolerate disturbance, which makes transplanting challenging. However, direct sown seedlings are more susceptible to slug and other pest pressure.

As you must wait to sow until the soil is warm, they may also take longer to produce a harvest. However, you can speed the process a bit by sprouting your seeds before sowing. Sprout the seeds in moist towels in plastic bags. Check them each day, keeping the towel damp. Sow them in the garden before the root reaches the length of the seed.

Using row cover over your melon beds until the plants begin to flower can help eliminate pest issues and protect them from wind.

When direct sowing, plant seeds 1/2 to 3/4 inches deep 1 to 2 inches apart in rows 5 to 6 inches apart. Later, when the seedlings have developed true leaves, thin them to 12 to 18 inches apart, selecting week seedlings for thinning. No one enjoys thinning, but crowded melons produce poorly.

Transplanting Melons

Melons are incredibly delicate to transplant, so for must people we recommend sticking to direct sowing. However, transplanting has the benefit of providing an earlier harvest when done successfully. Transplanting seedlings rather than direct sowing can also help reduce seedling loss from slug and pest pressure.

As they have sensitive root systems, sow your melons in pots, not in flats. Biodegradable pots like newspaper pots are a good option. Sow two to three seeds per pot about 1/2 inch deep. If all three in a pot come up, use scissors to trim off the weaker two.

Keep the pots warm, using a seedling heat mat if possible. Melon seeds germinate best when the temperature is 85 to 90°F. After germination, maintain your seedlings at 75° F or higher.

Hardening Off

Melons are delicate, so it’s important to harden off your transplants. Start by setting them outdoors in indirect sunlight for just a couple of hours. Gradually increase their sun exposure and time outdoors over a couple of weeks.

Transplanting Outdoors

Wait for ideal conditions to transplant your melons. They are more likely to suffer from transplant shock on windy or chilly days. Again, the soil temperature should be at least 70°F. Water your seedlings the day before you transplant and again about one hour before transplanting.

Transplant your melons 12 to 18 inches apart in rows 5 to 6 feet apart. Melons typically have long stems by the time they’re ready for transplanting. To help them grow well, gently bury this delicate stem. This will encourage rooting.

Keep a few seedlings set aside in pots, to fill in any gaps if some of your transplants fail.

Caring for Melons

Once you’ve successfully transplanted your melons, caring for them is fairly straightforward. However, there are a few key steps you want to take throughout the season to ensure a good harvest.

Watering

Melons require consistent watering through flowering and early fruit set for good production. Keep the soil moist, but not waterlogged. Generally, melons will need about 1 to 2 inches of water per week, depending on the temperatures, wind conditions, and cloud cover.

Water your melons in the morning. Use a drip hose, soaker hose, irrigation or water at the base of the vine to avoid splashing water on the leaves which can contribute to disease issues. Water deeply about three times per week, depending on the rain.

Mulch

Mulch is great for blocking weeds and adding organic matter to the soil, but it can also keep the soil cool. Wait for hot weather to mulch around melons to ensure the soil is warm. Then mulch heavily, especially under developing fruit.

Pest and Wildlife Issues

Unfortunately, there are several pests and animals that may go after your melon plants. Thankfully, there are some surefire ways to deal with them.

Early in the season, slugs will feed on the young seedlings. You can deter slugs by temporarily pulling mulch alway from plants and removing slug hiding places. You can also manage their populations by placing homemade beer traps. Fill shallow containers with beer and place them near your plants. The slugs will get in and drown.

Cucumber beetles are also a major pest of melons and may introduce bacterial wilt to your crop. Proper crop rotation is key to managing cucumber beetle issues. Row cover can also be a good way to exclude the beetles, but must be removed during flowering to ensure good pollination. Amaranth planted nearby also makes a good trap crop. Check out our full post on managing cucumber beetles.

Cornell University bred the Trifecta Muskmelon for striped cucumber beetle resistance.

Mealybugs, whiteflies, and aphids can also attack melon plants, but we mostly see this in greenhouse settings. Use a fairly strong spray setting on your hose to blast these pests off the plants. Some people also have luck with soap sprays. However, some melon foliage is sensitive to soap sprays. Try it on a few leaves, before spraying the entire plant.

Humans aren’t the only animals attracted to sweet melons. It’s likely that your melons will need some protection from animals like groundhogs, raccoons, deer, and other wildlife, particularly during dry seasons! We’ve even had customers report coyotes eating their melons during a drought. Use secure fencing around your garden and melon patch to keep out unwanted dinner guests.

Harvesting Melons

Ripe melons usually have a telltale sweet aroma. Depending on the variety, you’ll also notice an ivory-yellow coloring. When fully ripe, most melons easily slip from the vine when you put pressure at the base of the stem with your thumb.

Pile of Edisto 47 Muskmelons with the tops one sliced in half to show an orange center — Edisto 47 Muskmelon

Seed Saving

If you’re planning to save seed from your favorite melon variety, isolate melons by a minimum of 1/8 mile for home use, or 1/2 to 1 mile for pure seed. While you could save seed from a single plant, we recommend saving from 5 to 10 plants to preserve genetic diversity.

You can harvest seed from fully ripe melons that you’ve harvested for the table. However, to get the highest quantity of viable seeds, leave the melons on the vines until they’re over-ripe, about 20 days past your typical harvest time.

Cut your melon in half and scoop out the seeds. Viable seeds should be firm and plump. Rinse the seeds in a colander, removing the pulp.

Lay seeds out to dry on a tea towel, paper towel, or old screen. When they’re dry enough for storage, you’ll be able to cleanly snap them in half with your fingers. If seeds bend rather than break, they need to be dried longer.

Move fully dry seeds to airtight containers and store them somewhere cool and dark.

Garden Advice

Cucumber Beetles: Management & Prevention

April 17, 2025 Jordan Charbonneau Leave a comment

Spring is full of hope. It’s tough to think about pests as we’re dreaming of the season to come, but spring is a good time to prepare for common garden pests like cucumber beetles. Learning to identify, prevent, and treat cucumber beetles can help ensure you have a productive season.

What are Cucumber Beetles?

When people say “cucumber beetle” they’re often referring to more than one species. Here in the Southeast, we typically see striped cucumber beetles (Acalymma vittatum) and spotted cucumber beetles (Diabrotica undecimpunctata).

In other parts of North America, you may find other beetles that fall into the cucumber beetle category like western striped cucumber beetle (Acalymma trivittatum).

Adult striped cucumber beetles feature a dark head, dark antennae, and yellow back, typically with three distinct black stripes running the length. They are about 1/4 inch long. They feed on vegetables in the cucurbit family, including zucchini, cucumbers, yellow squash, pumpkins, watermelons, and winter squash.

Adult spotted cucumber beetles feature a dark head, dark antennae, greenish yellow backs with six black spots. They are about 1/4 inch long. In their adult form, these beetles may feed on cucurbits like cucumbers and squash along with other crops like corn, beans, cotton, and soybeans

Besides the physical damage from feeding, cucumber beetles are also vectors for several plant diseases, including squash mosaic virus, cucumber mosaic virus, bacterial wilt, and Fusarium wilt.

Striped Cucumber Beetles on a damaged leaf — Striped Cucumber Beetles by Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University / © Bugwood.org

Cucumber Beetle Life Cycle

Both species of cucumber beetle overwinter as adults. They often remain in plant debris in or near the garden. Depending on your location, they leave their hibernation sites in mid-April to June as the temperatures rise.

The adults feed on seedlings and can kill the plants. They lay their eggs near the base of cucurbit host plants. When their larvae hatch, they feed on the plants’ roots.

The larvae grow and emerge from the soil as adults between July and September. They continue to feed on plants as adults before finding places to overwinter before cold temperatures set in.

Striped Cucumber Beetles in a Squash Blossom — D. Gordon E. Robertson, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Signs of Cucumber Beetles

Often gardeners will find the cucumber beetles on their plants. They feed on the stems, leaves, flowers, and fruit, often near the soil. Besides finding adult beetles on the plants, there are a few telltale signs that your garden may have a cucumber beetle problem.

You may notice plants wilting, particularly at the cotelydon stage on young plants. At this stage, large amounts of beetles may also completely defoliate or kill the plants.

On large plants, they create holes in the flowers and leaves. Large infestations may girdle plant stems, weakening or killing the plant. Infested plants may also be more susceptible to lodging in high winds. Cucumber beetles will also feed on the fruit, leaving scars and pockmarks on the surface.

You may also notice disease like bacterial wilt, Fusarium wilt, squash mosaic virus, or cucumber mosaic virus killing your plants. Cucumber beetles may spread these diseases.

Spotted Cucumber Beetle eating a leaf — Matthew T Rader, https://matthewtrader.com, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

How to Prevent Cucumber Beetles

Prevention is the best treatment! While there is no way to guarantee a cucumber-beetle-free garden, there are a few ways you can deter them and reduce their impact.

Provide habitat for predatory insects and animals. Researchers have found lower numbers of cucumber beetles in fields with higher populations of wolf spiders and carabid beetles. Encouraging these beneficial insects and other wildlife, like songbirds and toads which feed on the beetles, can help reduce their numbers.
If you have a severe infestation, follow a strict fall clean-up. As the adult beetles must overwinter, you can kill them in the fall. Thoroughly clean up any gardens infested with beetles. Destroy plant material and till the garden to exposure them to the cold temperatures.
Rotate your crops by family. Cucumber beetles often overwinter right in the garden. Practice crop rotation to avoid planting cucurbits into beds with overwintering populations.
Transplant your cucumbers and other cucurbits rather than direct sowing. This will protect new seedlings from cucumber beetle damage.
Plant late. If cucumber beetles are regularly a problem on your young plants, sowing or transplanting late may help. Cucumber beetles are most tempted in spring but young, weak seedlings. Waiting to plant until summer can reduce the damage to seedlings.
Plant trap crops 3 to 8 feet from your main crop. Certain crops like Hubbard squash are highly attractive to cucumber beetles. Plant them to lure the beetles away from your other crops. When they’re heavily infested, you can burn them to knock back cucumber beetle populations.
Try companion planting. Some gardeners have luck deterring cucumber beetles with companion plants. Recommended companion plants include nasturtiums, radishes, marigolds, and catnip.
Plant under row cover. Row cover is useful for excluding cucumber beetles from the plants. Just remember to remove it when the plants flower to allow for pollination.

How to Treat Cucumber Beetles

While prevention is best, if you notice you have cucumber beetles this season, there are a few steps you can take.

The first is to physically remove the beetles. Handpicking is tough with cucumber beetles, but if you only have a few plants, it may be worth it. Some gardeners have luck with rubbing petroleum jelly on the fingertips of their gloves to help them grab these little insects.

A slightly easier solution is to use a handheld vacuum to suck up the beetles before dumping them into a container of soapy water.

Yellow sticky traps are another popular way to kill cucumber beetles. Keep in mind these traps can also capture pollinators and other beneficial insects visiting the plants.

There are few chemical controls available (organic or otherwise). Cucurbits are sensitive, making them tough to treat in this way. One organic solution some gardeners use is neem oil.

Garden Advice

10+ Varieties Perfect for Canning

April 8, 2025 Jordan Charbonneau Leave a comment

Canning is a great way to preserve any surplus harvest from the home garden. While it has lost some popularity to freezing vegetables, canning has the advantage of being shelf stable, an important feature if you live in an area with power outages. Canned vegetables can also help you cut back on your grocery bill and provide ready to go, healthy sides for busy weeknight meals.

Basic Canning Safety

There are two basic types of canning: water bath canning and pressure canning. Water bath canning is very simple. You boil jars of food in a pot of water for a specific length of time depending on the recipe.

The water bath canning method is a great way to get started for beginners. If you’ve cooked spaghetti, you can water bath can. Unfortunately, it’s only safe for “high acid” foods. Most vegetables are low acid. So to make them safe for water bath canning you need to add acidity. You can do this by making pickles, salsa, or relish which require acidic ingredients like vinegar. Other high acid foods include certain tomato products and fruit jams.

While tomatoes were once considered acidic enough to can alone, most modern sources recommend adding lemon juice or citric acid to boost the acidity. Don’t worry, you won’t taste it! Add two tablespoons of bottled lemon juice or 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid per quart of tomatoes. For pints, use one tablespoon bottled lemon juice or 1/4 teaspoon citric acid.

Note that tomato recipes with added vegetables like zucchini, peppers, or beans in vegetable tomato soup may not be acidic enough for water bath canning at all. Always use a tested canning recipe.

Pressure canning is a bit more involved, but is still easier than you’d think. Don’t be intimidated! To pressure can you will need a pressure canner, not a pressure cooker. These aren’t the same product.

Pressure canning allows you to bring your jars of food to a much higher temperature than water bath canning. This kills bacteria and means you can safely can “low acid” foods like sweet corn, green beans, carrots, and lima beans.

Great Crops for Home Canning

Whether you want to try water bath canning for the first time or are an experienced canner looking to fill the pantry with pressure-canned veggies, these are a few of our favorite crops.

Homemade Pickles Cucumber

Specifically developed for home gardeners interest in canning, Homemade Pickles is always a favorite. The vigorous plants have good disease resistance and produce medium green fruits with small white spines. The cukes are are solid and crisp.

Harvest them at 1½ inches or larger, up to 6 inches. Homemade Pickles makes robust bite-sized pickles, slices, or large spears.

Amish Paste Tomato

Year after year, Amish Paste is one of the most popular canning tomatoes we offer. It’s also one of the largest sauce tomatoes we carry. The tall plants produce heavy yields of coreless fruits weighing up to 12 oz.

Despite the name ‘Amish Paste,’ the juicy fruits are best suited to making sauce.

Six pods of Blue Lake Bush beans sitting in a dish of the dried beans — Blue Lake Bush (Blue Lake 274) Bush Snap Bean

Blue Lake Bush (Blue Lake 274) Bush Snap Bean

These compact yet productive bush beans are a great choice for small gardens. Blue Lake Bush Beans are productive, disease resistant, and perfect for succession planting. The mostly stringless 6-8 inch pods are perfect for canning or freezing.

If you aren’t interested in pressure canning, these beans also make delicious dilly beans! Dilly bean pickles hold their texture well and are great served alongside burgers at summer cookouts.

Thorogreen (Cangreen Bush) Bush Lima Bean

Thorogreen Bush Lima Beans have wonderful texture, and flavor even when canned. Their concentrated pod set makes them ideal for home growers looking to can or freeze.

Aunt Mary’s Sweet Corn

Aunt Mary’s is an Ohio heirloom that dates back to the 1800s. Throughout the years it’s been passed down from seed savers, persevering its incredible flavor and selecting for canning.

Aunt Mary’s is fairly quick to mature. In just 69 days, it produces stalks of 6 to 8 feet and 1 to 2 ears of 6 to 8 inches long each.

Three Root Grex

This vibrant beet yields roots in two shades of red and one striking orange. The beautiful roots look stunning in a canning jar whether they’re pickled or pressure-canned. Three Root Grex beets are ready to harvest in about 54 days.

Garden Huckleberry

Garden huckleberries are one of the few annual fruits you can add to the garden. They produce heavy yields and are excellent for canning. Use garden huckleberries to prepare wonderful jam, pies, and syrup.

Music Garlic

Garlic is rarely the primary star of a canning recipe, though some folks enjoy pickled garlic. However, it’s a classic ingredient for many canning recipes like salsa, dill pickles, and spaghetti sauce.

Music garlic is one of many great options for canning. Music has a rich, pungent flavor that holds well even when canned perfect for those looking to create flavorful condiments, sauces, and pickles.

Sweet Banana (Long Sweet Hungarian) Sweet Pepper

These attractive peppers ripen from pale green to yellow to orange to crimson red. You can enjoy them at any stage, but they’re sweetest when fully ripe and red. Picked at the pale green stage, they make the classic pickled banana pepper rings.

Sweet Bananas thrive in the Mid-Atlantic and are highly productive.

Jalapeños

The classic salsa chile. Jalapeños produce medium-hot 1½ x 2½ in. thick-walled peppers usually harvested green, but can be left to mature to red, or removed from the plants to redden indoors.

Jalapeños are a perfect choice for canning salsa or jalapeño rings for topping nachos, pizzas, and sandwiches.

Chantenay Red Core Carrots

Chantenay Red Core produces blocky, broad-shouldered carrots with blunt tips. Their shape makes them adaptable for clay soils and their small size makes them perfect for canning.

You can pickle carrots, but most folks use them for pressure canning. You can pressure can them alone as a side dish or can them using tested recipes for vegetable soup, beef stew, or other dishes.

These vegetables just scratch the surface. You can use home canning to safely preserve most home-grown vegetables.

Green beans in a pressure cooker ready to be processed
Gandydancer, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Canning Resources

Canning doesn’t need to be scary, but it is best to use tested recipes from trustworthy resources. Learn basic safety canning rules and your best judgement when looking for new recipes. To get started, here are a few great resources to learn more about canning and find tested recipes.

The National Center for Home Food Preservation

The National Center for Home Food Preservation is your source for current research-based recommendations for most methods of home food preservation. The Center was established with funding from the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (CSREES-USDA) to address food safety concerns for those who practice and teach home food preservation and processing methods.

Creative Canning

Created by Ashley Adamant, Creative Canning puts together tons of recipes and safe canning guides. Ashely uses USDA guidelines where appropriate, as well as safe canning guidelines from state extension services, independent testing labs, and other reputable sources like Ball Canning, Bernardin, Mrs. Wages, and Pomona’s Pectin to create and source recipes and advice.

Ball Mason Jars

Ball Mason Jars are one of the most common canning product suppliers in the United States. Their website includes safety guides, canning tips and ideas, and tons of fun recipes.

Bernardin

Bernardin is Canada’s leading supplier of home canning products. Their website is full safe canning education and recipes.

State Extension Services

Most state extension services offer some canning recipes and advice along with their gardening information. Many extension services also offer testing for pressure canners.