Which is better? Neither. Melons kept over 4 weeks will be severely compromised.

Oh, well) I am doing my best) I am not giving up my sure turnip crop to may be yes may be no melons)But some how they grow them in containers, right? So what part of growing in big pot will compromise them - late transplanting?

Perhaps both. Certainly late transplanting and container planting does limit anything but small varieties.

Why not just re-seed some more melons so they'll be the right size/age when your turnips are done.

I am on the edge of zones 6a and 5b, and I just started my sugar baby watermelons and cantaloupe in pots indoors. They sprout quickly in my plant room. My last frost date is April 30. I usually plant them outside in containers at the end of May. By August I get melons. I agree that you have time to reseed. Melons are very sensitive to root disturbance. They need to be transplanted into the garden before they start to vine. If they are too big when you do that, they will be permanently set back.

OK, guys, you convinced me) I dig the seeds that I jut planted yesterday out of the big pots and seeded them again in the small ones, like last year. Reseeding is not an option - I am out of seeds and do not want to pay $5-10 delivery charge for a pack of the same seeds, and I do not want to risk a different one. To tell you the truth, I only had success with melon last year. Year before it was eaten by cucumber beetles. So last year I seeded three pots, with intention to use 2 in my cucumber chamber(insect screen over 7' high greenhouse like structure with net trellis ). And one should be just unfortunate and go to grow in a compost pile(most likely upside down). I was already walking to compost pile, when my husband (plant rescuer) stopped me. He said, it is unfair to throw it away and I should plant it. So I asked where EXACTLY I should plant it, and looked at the garden, where paths between beds are not more then a foot wide, and all beds are full. So he looked at turnips we already started to eat and said - here, here is an empty spot! I started to laugh, right, melon would grow between turnips! But to make him happy I made a hole and planted the poor melon. I covered the bed back with insect cover against cabbage flies(to save my turnips) and forgot about it. I eventually took the cover off when turnips were all gone to find a lot of female and male flowers on the melon.I left it open and forgot about it again. 11 melons, around 2 pounds each - sweet, as it can be from late July to start of September - I guess it was its way to say thank you)
Two other melons were overtaken by cucumbers, produced one apple size melon in august(despite my hand pollination, I guess I am a little too heavy for a bee) ), got sick and died quietly.
So from now on, turnips is only place where I grow melons))

This post was edited by galinas on Sun, May 4, 14 at 21:04