Fortunately, my friends share their spoils.
POD snagged a few Kiwano melon seeds from this bounty — how could you turn down something described as follows:
“Very unusual fruit with spiny ‘horns.’ The green-yellow skin turns a bright deep orange when ready to harvest and the pulp resembles lime-green Jell-O.”
Oh yeah.
Categories: Container Gardening · Melons & Cucumbers
Tagged: African horned cucumber melon, Kiwano, melon seeds
Well, thank goodness POD’s cucumbers were just about ready for retirement. They survived a minor case of leaf spot and random blight but powdery mildew did them in.
powdery mildew
It’s not a surprise, really. Temperatures have cooled and light has waned: a perfect recipe.
Unfortunately, the Minnesota Midgets have also been touched. Because there are at least six melonettes ripening, the most affected leaves have been snipped and the rest drenched in a dripping coat of Neem.
disease-stunted lemon cucumber
Categories: Container Gardening · Melons & Cucumbers
Tagged: Container Gardening, controlling cucumber disease, growing cucumbers in containers, growing vegetables in containers, lemon cucumbers, minnesota midget melon, powdery mildew
Gardening plans for next year always begin to form as the fruits from this year’s labors are being harvested. Recently, much time was spent researching potential muskmelon varieties for next year. Then I realized, the solution is right there at the farmers’ market, gazing up at a me. Duh.
Over the past few weeks the husband and I have been sampling melon varieties. It’s a rough job, surely, but someone’s gotta’ do it. Given the space limitation of a roof deck garden, cantaloupe options are limited. The great thing about this method is it allows POD to choose the melon that tastes best and happens to be tiny.
Step One: Slice the melon in half and scoop out the seeds. This is a wonderful French heirloom called Charentais. It grows to 2-3 pounds, probably a little on the large side, but worth a shot.
Step Two: Place the seeds in a wire strainer and rinse the seeds while smooshing the goo out the strainer. 
Step Three: Put the seeds in a bowl. Cover with warm water. Scoop off the seeds that float; they’re no good to you. 
Step Four: Rinse some more.
Step Five: place them in the wire strainer and allow them to air dry them thoroughly! About three days. 
Step Six: Seal them in a well-labeled bag and freeze.
Categories: Container Gardening · Melons & Cucumbers
Tagged: Container Gardening, growing cantaloupes in containers, growing muskmelons from seed, melons, reusing seeds, roof deck garden, saving cantaloupe seeds, saving muskmelon seeds, saving seeds
So, you’ve got a container garden and you’re determined to grow melons. Good for you. If your garden is 15 feet off the ground, though, what happens when your perfectly ripened ball-shaped melons fall spontaneously off the vines?
Splat. That’s what.
This pair of well-worn and snagged tights are offering a much needed safety net to tomorrow’s melons.
Categories: Container Gardening · Melons & Cucumbers
Tagged: cantaloupes, Container Gardening, gardening tips, growing cantaloupes in containers, growing melons in containers, growing muskmelons in containers, melons, minnesota midget melon, muskmelons, roof deck garden
No, POD’s hands aren’t freakishly large.
Minnesota Midgets are just that small.
Categories: Container Gardening · Melons & Cucumbers
Tagged: cantaloupes, growing cantaloupes in containers, growing melons in containers, growing muskmelons in containers, melons, minnesota midget, muskmelons
scientific diagnosis
Well, the lovely Minnesota Midget seems to have come down with a little something.
If a variety of online diagnostic tools can be trusted, it looks like Minnie may have contracted a case of ulocladium leaf spot. Which may be even more fun to say than Walla Walla, Washington. Certainly more fun alternaria leaf spot, which is another candidate.
At any rate, there’s not a whole lot than can be done at this point except treat the affected plants with a fungicide (copper sprays are recommended by some but POD’s trying out organicide) and snipping off affected leaves.
To avoid spotty leaves, gardeners should NOT:
To avoid spotty leaves, gardeners should:
Categories: Container Gardening · Melons & Cucumbers
Tagged: alternaria leaf spot, cantaloupe diseases, Container Gardening, cucumber diseases, gardening tips, growing cucumbers in containers, growing melons in containers, melon diseases, minnesota midget, muskmelon diseases, ulocladium leaf spot, urban gardening
Conventional wisdom (and most gardeners) will tell you that melons aren’t great candidates for containers. And it’s true, most melons aren’t. If you do your homework carefully, however, you may surprise yourself with a nice crop of sweet, tasty muskmelons. Look for dwarf or bush varieties and vines that aren’t likely to exceed 3-4 feet.
Minnesota Midget
What you see here is a fast-ripening Minnesota Midget. These little guys grow to about 4-6 inches in diameter (about 1/2 lb) and pretty much fall right off the vine when they’re ripe. Two plants are happily (mostly) thriving in this five-gallon bucket and earlier in the season, to maximize growing space, a nice batch of chard was keeping them company.
These cantaloupes are just about perfect for roof deck gardeners: they ripen much more quickly than traditional melons, the plants are relatively compact, and best of all, are resistant to diseases and wilt. With Philly’s hot summers, heat-loving melons really do make a lot of sense.
POD has tried both direct seeding and transplanting and has found that direct seeding works best in zone 7. Patiently wait until early summer and temperatures have warmed (65 degrees or so) and then stick ‘em in the ground. Make sure you build a trellis so you can train the plant to grow upward, conserving precious growing space. Alas, with the approach of fall, the little blue deck’s hours of direct sunlight are rapidly dwindling so melons that mature in 70-90 days are also critical requirements.
We’ve enjoyed two years of sweet little Midgets and it’s time to consider alternatives for next year:
Emerald Green, 2-3 lbs, 70-90 days
Green Nutmeg, 2-3 lbs, 70-80 days
Golden Jenny, 3/4-1 lb, 85 days (insect resistant)
Petit Gris de Rennes, 2-3 lbs, 80-85 days
Sakata’s Sweet, 1-2 lbs, 85-95 days
Sleeping Beauty 1/2-1lb, 85 days
Savor, 1-2 lbs, 70-80 days (disease resistant)
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds seem to have an excellent selection of seeds.
Categories: Container Gardening · Melons & Cucumbers
Tagged: cantaloup container varieties, City Gardening, Container Gardening, gardening tips, growing cantaloupes from seed, growing cantaloupes in containers, growing minnesota midgets in containers, growing muskmelons from seed, growing muskmelons in containers, growing vegetables in containers, minnesota midget melon, muskmelon container varieties, Philadelphia, roof deck garden, urban gardening
With limited space for plants on deck, it was time to sacrifice the lovely chard and give the delightful Minnesota Midgets a little more breathing room. Midgets are an excellent choice for container gardens — the soft-ball sized fruits are sweet and juicy and can handle the limited space. Three vines are currently creeping their way up a hand-trussed bamboo trellis.
Minnesota Midget
While it may seem nothing short of insane to grow muskmelons (cantaloupes) in a five-gallon bucket on a roof deck garden, they worked pretty well last year — despite misfires at the transplanting stage. Melon Growing Tip: if your climate is warm enough, don’t transplant your melons. They germinate quickly if you wait until the weather has thoroughly warmed.
Thus far, blossoms abound and the deeply-rooted space-hogging chard has been replaced by a shallow-rooted summer lettuce.
Goodbye chard.
the end of chard
Categories: Container Gardening · Melons & Cucumbers
Tagged: cantaloupe, chard, Container Gardening, gardening tips, growing melons in containers, growing vegetables in containers, minnesota midget melon, muskmelon, planters, roof deck garden, summer lettuce, Swiss Chard, urban gardening
POD began with visions of gorgeous flowers, cascading from well-designed containers. And, for the first few years, visitors to the little blue deck were greeted by a riot of color.
Then, almost surreptitiously, a basil plant slipped in, then a jalapeno and Mr. Stripey…Now, the little blue deck sports almost entirely vegetables. There are enough flowers to encourage pollination, but great gobs of satisfaction — culinary, environmental and yes, aesthetic satisfaction — can be derived from growing vegetables in containers.
The red lettuce surrounding these spacemaster cucumbers and Minnesota Midget melons provide a nice splash of red against a small sea of soon-to-be towering green.
This lone glazed terra cotta pot stars tarragon, thyme and lavender. Contrasting greens, varied heights and textures combine to present a pretty striking container. (Sorry the picture isn't so hot!)
Categories: Container Gardening · Melons & Cucumbers
Tagged: Container Gardening, gardening tips, growing herbs, growing herbs in containers, lavender, lettuce, minnesota midget melon, spacemaster cucumber, tarragon, thyme, urban gardening
snapdragon pollinate!
Cucumbers need to get around. That is, they must pollinate (or be pollinated) to successfully set fruit. Sometimes, especially in urban gardens, a little matchmaking must be done for these heat-loving climbers.
female cucumber
When gardening on a small urban sundeck, each precious inch of soil must be put to good use (see: Making the Most of it). Although it’s tempting to fill every precious pot with something edible, to maximize your edible garden’s potential, throw in a few flowers to encourage the local bumble bees to stop by and get it on.
If your plants aren’t buzzing, and Mother Nature’s not quite hitting it off, don’t be afraid to help out. Grab a small watercolor paint brush, gently gather pollen from the male flower and dab it onto the female flower. (Honestly, it’s easy to tell cucumber flowers apart: female flowers will have a miniature wee cucumber at the base of the flower, male flowers don’t.)
Categories: Container Gardening · Melons & Cucumbers
Tagged: Container Gardening, gardening tips, growing cucumbers in containers, growing vegetables in containers, lemon cucmbers, pollinating cucumbers, pollination, spacemaster cucumbers, urban gardening
