Man that is gorgeous!

Congrats on the melon! Boy, your plants look so good with all the little melons poking their heads out here and there. You're not actually IN the city, are you? Because your temps seem sort of high for most anywhere in SF, lol.

Next year, I need to try growing some. You managed to come up with some of the coolest things to grow this year, and they seem to keep working out well, and I'm sure we have similar temps. *grin*

Thanks for the kind words takadi.

Spaghetina: I actually moved out of sf late last year and am now in marin. I was in SOMA area. What part of sf are you in?

This is my first year gardening but I think a lot of my success has to do with where I bought my plants.

I ordered from natural gardening company and they are located in north bay and so they know the climates, plant out dates etc. For the area. It was great because when I call the owner picks up and he gives me advice on what to plant depending on what I am looking for etc. He gave me the melon recs and it has been great because they all have numerous melons.

Here is a link that might be useful: natural gardening

I will definitely check out the website. It's good to have local seed companies who know which varieties work best here. The best I've done was with my local nursery, but for reasons unknown, everyone there seems to walk around with twigs in their behinds, aside from one guy.

I'm in San Carlos, right next to Redwood City, so we're (thankfully) hotter than, say, Pacifica, and cooler than San Jose. I grew up in Pacifica though, and am now kicking myself that I didn't know about what great pea weather it has. Freshly shelled peas are one of my most favorite foods on the planet.

Back on topic (sort of, lol), I'm always impressed with your garden pics, and constantly look forward to new blog posts with more pretty photos.

Very nice. It is a good feeling, I know it. I picked about 8 Korean melons(small , oval, orange yellow color). 3 others had been half eaten by some creatures(I suspect rats). Four of them are still in the frig.

By the way, your first pick seems to be overripe. How do I know it: First, it has no stem, second, when you cut it, seeds have made channels, and on one side you can see dicoloration and softening due to overripeness. Also, the seeds have broken their cage.
Those seeds are perfect for saving.

spaghetina, pacifica def. has good pea weather and chard, greens ;)

san carlos is very warm so you should have no problem with melons...i think it has similiar weather to san rafael (where i am), maybe even warmer...!!

*************

Very nice. It is a good feeling, I know it. I picked about 8 Korean melons(small , oval, orange yellow color). 3 others had been half eaten by some creatures(I suspect rats). Four of them are still in the frig.
By the way, your first pick seems to be overripe. How do I know it: First, it has no stem, second, when you cut it, seeds have made channels, and on one side you can see dicoloration and softening due to overripeness. Also, the seeds have broken their cage.
Those seeds are perfect for saving.
**************

Cyrus gardeneer: i did save the seeds but it is a hybrid so who knows what will grow from them. also, i would be surprised if it was overripe as it was still sort of crunchy and not super sweet throughout and i know they are supposed to be very sweet. also, the stem broke off like that due to my manhandling the poor melon. from what i read the melons are supposed to get yellow throughout on the outside and smell very fragrant and mine still had some green and only smelled if i put my nose right on it.

Hi farmerdilla

Thanks for your tips. I fiugured it was not quite ripe. I picked it up not that carefully to smell it. I am sort of kicking myself for that but I have 2 more on the same vine so I will be more careful and patient with them. Thanks for the tip about the netting.

Tammy,
Georgous pictures. Your post reminds me to turn off the watering.

Farmerdilla. Any tips to help melon mature properly?

Not really. I am a practitoner of good seedbed preparation and then letting the plants do their own thing. Premature ripening is usually due to stress. Keep the weeds and crabgrass down to avoid competition. Drought stress is the primary cause for me, so if you irrigate keep it up until the melons have full net.

Ahh. So confusing. I thought I was supposed to dtop watering weeks before picking so they are riper and turnef off irrigation last week.

Gorgeous pictures! It looks like your melon-growing is a great success. This year I am trying my first melons as well. I have Minnesota Midget and Iroquois muskmelons in the garden. I might be taking my first taste of a Minnesota Midget melon pretty soon. I just hope I judge the right time to harvest it as well. I think melons have provided the most rewarding experience in the garden this year. The same goes for my first watermelon that is getting bigger daily. A Bush Sugar Baby. Plus my Jack Be Little pumpkins. I love having such a big, beautiful, delicious end product.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kim's Garden

Kim. Great selection of melons and pumpkins. Great blog. I'm following it.

I just picked my 2nd arava. It was much sweeter but I didn't LOVE the texture. This variety produces 2-3 melons per plant and they are the smallest of my melons.

I much prefer the charentais as I like orange flesh melons better, the plants have 4-5 melons per plant and the melons are about 20 percent bigger than arava.

Next up is honey orange. These are my biggest melons and I am getting 3-5 per plant. The outside of the melon is getting smoother (no longer hairy) so I was told to wait until outside feels "waxy".

Ill keep you all updated on flavor.