Allotments 4 All

I have just planted 4 melon seeds in the propagator. I have never grown them before but my wife has nagged me to try it.

Is it worth it here in Liverpool? and should I grow them like my butternut squash in frames?

http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/allaboutallotments_Vegetables_squash_butternut.html

This month's edition of kitchen garden magazine has an article on growing melons.

2 years ago I grew 4 plants in  smallish pots in our very, very hot conservatory, they were wonderful & produced loads of melons.  Last year I tried the same & couldn't get them going at all.  This year i am planning to try growing them in pots in a cold frame & allowing the vine to grow out of it which I know others on here have done.

I grow  about 12 varieties every year I rarely have problems, The water melons are the ones I get the problems with if any. XX Jeannine

Ooo Oooo, I have 6 watermelon seedlings!  This is good for me.  I can get most things to germinate, but melons always keel over.  I shall be loving these babies!

Do you guys grow them outside or undercover?

Me all undercover

I've grown them outside for the last 3 years - and normally get 4 or 5 melons off each plant. I dont plant them out till maybe mid june - so will be starting them off in the the green house in about mid/late May. I am in the south though, near Oxford, and we rarely get frosts after the end of May. When i plant them out i dig a big hole and fill it with manure first, then plant on top of that, and give them plenty of water. Well worth it though, they taste amazing. Dont grow loads as they will all be ready within a couple of weeks of each other - and they dont keep that well. If you do grow them in a green house you will need to hand polinate them.

Keef I grew a couple classified as winter melons that keep quite well but they do have a long growing season and they are iffy here, XX Jeannine

Keef- you seem to have the answer. As I have a bed reserved for melons, I shall plant mine out undercover, but sow some more seeds at the end of the month as an insurance.

http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/allaboutallotments1_homepage.html

got, fingers crossed, 4 seedlings, about 3" high..we grow them in the poly and never have any trouble, if we can keep them going  ;D

Bob Flowerdew swears by his old glass topped freezer cabinet to grow his watermelons.

I grew Jenny Lind melons last year outside in an unheated rubbish old coldframe in Glasgow and I got 3, so go for it.