Grow Your Own Magazine

oh no its fruit agin!

We picked this melon - it doesn't look like a Minnesota Midget - because we thought it was nearly ripe, but how can you tell?



that should be how can you tell its ripe, not how can you tell its a Midget!

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Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

You can tell if a melon is ripe by squeezing its bottom...hee hee!If you press on the dimple on the bottom,it should 'give' slightly.Also if you smell the melon,you should also be able to smell a slight scent.You do this with shop brought ones as well.

Best to practise on the ones in a shop, after all you don't want Your melons bruised

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ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/

Oh so its okay to squeeze bottoms then? I thought so, but wondered about when to pick as I've never grown them before.

__________________
Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

SBP
You really are a tease, getting my hopes up like that

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Rat

British by birth
Scottish by the Grace of God

Blog updated Wednesday November 13th

I would say when you can smell it, it will be fully ripe.

I always smell them and never squeeze them! You can tell when your onions are going off as well, by smelling the bag they are kept in! Oranges in nets is another one. I think people in the supermarket must think I am crazy picking up and smelling things!

So do I smell or squeeze the bottom?!!!!!!!

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Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

Well if you don't mind being caught smelling bottoms ........

Do both!!!! You just gently press the dimple on the bottom,if it gives slightly and the melon smells melony its ready!I knew it would start some cheeky messages mentioning bottoms!

'cheeky'???!

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Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

Hi SBP, just read a tip from Bob Flowerdew in Amateur Gardening magazine about how to tell if a melon is ripe, he says they are ready when little cracks appear on the stem where it joins the fruit.
You asked somewhere else about the best ones to grow & Grow Your Owm magazine recommends Lunabel F1, Sweetheart F1, Romeo F1 & Ogen.

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Into every life a little rain must fall.

Thanks Sue, I have been squeezing and sniffing without the neighbours catching me - so far! So this will help me.

Thinking of trying sweetheart, but will try to remember the others come seed-buying time.

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Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

We have grown sweetheart from seed this year in the green house 2 plants to a 12 inch pot with great success, a really nice tasting melon.

Interesting thanks frost - have you any pictures of the plant/fruit?

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Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

Hi Manda
Sorry no pics at mo, I will try and get some, the green house is a bit of a jungle (I will try and fill every inch, can bare to throw out extra plants I,ve failed to give away lol) but I'll see what I can do.

Lou

Thanks Lou - our greenhouse is a jungle too! Which was why I was hoping for a piccy, so I could see how much room we'd have to give to the melons. There's never enough room in the greenhouse mainly because of my love of aubergines, the rampant cucumber and lots of toms.

Just to double check what type of melon is Sweetheart? I've seen photos on various sites of the melon itself and the pictures don't always show the same type of melon!

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Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

Hi Manda

Yes its sweetheart we have grown, our first attempt from seed, only ever bought the plants at the garden centre before, chuffed to say we have had better success with these an bought ones.

Growing red egg aubs from seed this time too, only one so far though not too good from 6 plants, the flowers just seem to die off and nothing happens, any tips?

There are a couple of aub threads with piccies on here

how do your aubs grow?

when to pick aubs?

I'm not really sure why the flowers drop. On ours it does happen to some on each plant, but quite a few have set too, it also seems to happen if its too cold. Have had a reasonable crop from all the plants so far, but lost the applegreen, that was in the bucket, to over-watering/mould - I think the drainage wasn't enough, there obviously wasn't a hole in my bucket!!!

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Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

Thanks Manda

I did wonder if its because we,ve grown them in window box type containers rather than grow bags, we gave up grow bags this year and put everything in pots ( just the cues in bags in the cold frame), we had Sommerfield bags last year they were rubbish, had to feed them loads to get the plants up to scratch, so far pots seem to work well.

Lou

I would have thought they'd (aubs) want at least bucket size as they become quite sizeable plants - we have a couple that are heading for the shelf that the melon is growing along!

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Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

Hi Manda

Managed to get a couple of pics of the sweetheart melons.


Lou

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Ohh nice melons Lou!

Ours grow like that too, up the bamboo pole and along the metal shelf. How many melons do you think you'll get from each plant?

__________________
Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."