Neither is hard to grow, but you will get more responses in the vegetables forum. Watermelons dislike heavy clay soils but cantaloupes are pretty tolerant. Both require loose soil and primaily for warmth and drainage should be planted on slighly elevated hills or lists. The small one can be grown vertically by providing individual slings for each melon. They can be grown together, they don't cross or anything, but watermelon vines in general take more space than cantaloupes. You might want to start with small watermelons like New Hampshire Midget and an early cantaloupe like Alaska.

Help with watermelons email my suger snap melon last yr in MI. but I think this varity did well for me and taste good. small melon, I put a black holey plastic down like a letter T. and put compost in the hole I made and added some off and on in the season, I watered with collected rain water and some compost tea water. I only had about 5 melons on 4 healthy vines. I did take off other blooms to only have a few healthy biger ones but mi. dont grow melons to well in past so this one did work for me.Worked for me. email for pic. of.

Hope the pictures where helpful on varity and your how to, spot.Bon Good luck with those melon's