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Post by krazykangaroo on Jan 2, 2012 3:55:19 GMT -5
I had such high hopes for my melon patch this year but a week of over 45 C (113 F) has made half of them abort their female fruits that have just set, even though I have been watering them deeply every day. Now I am two or three weeks behind and I will miss out on the best farmers market in my little area next month, sigh . I'm in Australia and we are having a hot and dry summer, even worse than usual. I am growing 40 different kinds of melon this year and I hope the weather cools down a bit or I may lose the lot. My Iroquoi and Riddle have already turned up their toes. Anyway that is my rant for the day. Cheers, Rowan
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Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2012 18:26:16 GMT -5
So Sorry to hear about your Melons. Hope that it cools down for you soon. Is the heat wave unusual where you live? 113 F is very hot!!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2012 18:37:57 GMT -5
I'm sorry about those melons. I had similar trouble with my melons this year. I bought local native heirloom seeds, but they did not well tolerate the 6 weeks of 100+ degree temperatures last summer. (The statistics for this high desert area claim we never get more than 3 days of 100+ degree weather in a summer. Hah!) Anyway, many of my plants, melons and otherwise, sort of went into stasis until the weather cooled down some. The plants basically lost six weeks of growing time. I only got two full size melons, all of the rest of the fruits were stunted (puny). If you can rig up some shade for the hottest time of the day, it might be helpful.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2012 12:12:57 GMT -5
What melons would be a good start for a beginner gardener in north ga?
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Post by txdirtdog on Jan 5, 2012 21:27:11 GMT -5
Greendean7,
Welcome to NJT!
I am not 100% familiar with Northern GA, but I suspect that for a watermelon Blacktail Mountain would be a good choice. This is an icebox sized melon bred for cooler climate, but also does well in humid southern states. I would also suspect Sugar Baby would do well also. I'm not sure I'd try the larger watermelons in the first garden. The soil typically needs a lot of amendments (IE lots of compost, probably sand) to be in great shape for watermelons or melons. Space is usually an issue if you are a backyard gardener like myself. The vines take a fair amount of space.
Having said that, I'm also a big believer in "you won't know until you try". So pick something that sounds good to you and do some reading to familiarize yourself with the basic needs of the plant and go for it. You typically learn a lot more by experience of actually trying to grow it (with success or failure) than a lot of hours of research will give.
I'm not going to give a recommendation for a cantaloupe/muskmelon type as the only success I've had is with Green Machine - a green fleshed sweet one, but I don't know if it is suited to your area.
Good luck!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2012 22:10:12 GMT -5
Dean as far as watermelons i grow, charleston gray, sugar babies and crimson sweets and hales best cantaloupes work well for me in southeastern Tennessee
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2012 14:01:00 GMT -5
hey tomatoshiriff,, where is that mellon patch you have? I just live on the other side of monteagle from you!! lol, just teaseing of course, I don't wantta mess with no marion county law!! =
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