planting rockmelons

Today, I started planting my rockmelon seedlings into the area where I decided to grow them this year.   I usually start planting melons outdoors around the 2nd or 3rd week of November. By this time of the year, night time temperatures are usually above 10 degrees, at least in Auckland.  Any cooler and the plants probably won’t survive.  These are the steps I took, which include some things I did beforehand:

•          Sowing seed on my heat pad (according to my records, I sowed rockmelon on the 11th and 15th of October) into the lid part of some egg cartons.  The heat pad keeps the temperature nice and even during early spring, when the temperature falls considerably at night.  This year, I’m growing Hale’s Best (Yates), Tuscan Delight (Kings Seeds), Inspiration (Kings Seeds), Aspire (Kings Seeds) and Charentais (Kings Seeds)
•          Caring for the rockmelon seedlings as they grew.  When they were large enough, I pricked them out and potted them up individually.  They were then moved to the greenhouse.  At first, they stayed inside Sistema crates with the lids off during the day but back on at night when the temperature dropped.  When they grew three or four leaves, I moved them onto trays and started hardening them off.  If the weather was terrible, I just left them inside the greenhouse. Otherwise, I placed them outdoors during the day but back undercover at night (just on trays, not in the crates) until about a week ago, when all the melons that were large enough started staying outdoors all the time.  When the plants got to the stage of being hardened off, I liquid fed them with Yates Thrive Tomato Liquid Plant food at the rate of one capful per 9 L of water in my watering can (which conveniently is that size).  About a week ago, I sprayed the plants with Yates Success as I had noticed for some time that something had been nibbling at my plants.  While I wasn’t keen on using a pesticide because like Simone I try to keep things as natural as I possibly can in the garden (on the spraying side for edibles at least), I didn’t want to lose all my precious seedlings.  I managed to salvage most but still lost quite a few, even after spraying.  It could be that the spray didn’t protect against whatever was munching at my plants
•          Clearing the area where I wanted to grow rockmelons this year.  There were cabbages and beetroot in the area which needed harvesting, which I did in October.  I grew rockmelon in a different area of the garden last year (now the strawberry patch).  It’s a good idea to rotate crops so as to avoid the build up of diseases. 
•          Worked in compost and fertiliser (Nitrophoska), digging the soil over.  I did this last Friday
•          This morning, I laid black plastic down over the area, cutting it as necessary so it fitted nicely.  To stop it from flying away, I weighed down the edges with some potted lavender
•          I then make holes in the black plastic for the plants, ensuring there is sufficient space as melons need room to creep
•          I chose the plants I wanted to put in today from my nursery, selecting the biggest, strongest, healthiest seedlings.  These plants had developed at least four large leaves and a couple even had tendrils on them.  I love cucurbits.  They are so cute!
•          I then soaked each plant in a bucket containing some diluted Yates Thrive Natural Fish and Seaweed Liquid Fertiliser, while it was still in its pot.  This helps reduce the risk of transplant shock
•          I planted one melon seedling in each hole with a scoop of Osmocote slow release fertiliser formulated for tomatoes and other fruiting crops, which I stocked up on when Bunnings had them on clearance earlier in the year.  By this time, it was around 9 am.  It’s best to plant either in the morning or in the evening, avoiding the hottest part of the day as it gets very dry
•          I watered each plant with my watering can (but not too much as less is more when it comes to watering melons)

I’ll check on the plants over the weekend to see whether they survive.  If they’re still alive, I’ll fill the remaining two rows with plants.  I still have some spares in my nursery to replace any that I lose along the way.  It always pays to have some back ups.  I don’t like planting everything out at once incase I lose them all!


If you would like to grow rockmelons this year but your own seedlings failed to germinate or grow successfully, it’s still not too late to head on down to your local garden centre and purchase some plants.  I usually purchase some potted melons every year as a contingency incase my own ones don’t grow, but for the first time I haven’t had to do that.  Having the greenhouse to keep my plants nice and snug while the weather was still temperamental definitely helped (thanks Uncle Tony for helping to construct it for us!).
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Today’s photo is of our prolific strawberry harvest.  It’s like that every day, thanks to those plants from the commercial grower in Katikati.  I think liquid feeding them every week with Yates Thrive Berry Liquid Fertiliser also helps. I’ll definitely be ordering more next year!  I’ll post a picture of the rockmelons once they’ve had a chance to settle in a bit.