My cantaloupe is sprouting!

[HEyHEY]

But none of my other ones are yet, which is raising questions as the Cantaloupe are a different seed company - 100 per cent organic.

[Sannum]

1. No sex threads!

:P

[HEyHEY]

2. I guess it kinda is

[jswordy]

3. You must be growing them inside?

[HEyHEY]

4. for now yeah

[jswordy]

8. Wow, they ought to be pretty big plants by the time your zone warms up.

Cantalope require nice warm ground to thrive. Because they are grown all over around here as a truck crop, I have never planted them. I can get them ridiculously cheap in-season.

[HEyHEY]

9. We'll be at 70 in about a month and a bit

I technically live in a desert

[jswordy]

10. So the ground temp will be at least 65 by then up there?

You could put black plastic on the ground now to speed soil warming. You'll have some good plants started by then, for sure. Get the jump on first melons. Mmmmm!

[HEyHEY]

12. What I really wanna try is watermelon

I heard you can grow it here.

[jswordy]

14. The black plastic trick works real well. Bet you could if you use that.

Watermelons love sandy soil. You can also leave the black plastic around the plants to boost their soil warmth and starting, til it is definitely warm up there.

[redqueen]

5. Interesting...

I've had seeds from the same company sprout at different times, so I sure can't offer any explanation.

Nice choice! Orange-colored fruits are the healthiest. :)

[sui generis]

6. you can also scoop the seeds from a grocery store cantaloupe

they sprout just fine too -

[HEyHEY]

7. Really? I thought they bred them so they wouldn't grow

[jswordy]

11. No, they will grow, but they are hybrid, so...

...the second generation fruits may not be uniform or true to those of the parent plant.

[sui generis]

15. I've had cantaloupes and watermelons and punkins

and acorn squash and some stuff I have no idea what it is growing in my compost pile (I haven't turned it in years). I also had a beautiful apricot tree that put out hundreds of apricots until it bloomed early and froze a couple of years ago. I've had avocados, peppers, anything I've ever pitched out there that had seeds in it sprouts.

I guess there's no harm in trying to sprout anything you can - but my house is also in a magical green thumb zone. I actually have to pull an average of 20 pecan saplings (and I have 11 80 - 100 foot monster pecans) every year. You can't kill anything; I have one bad tree by the pool that I cut down eleven years ago that throws up an entire new tree every year and I have stump ground it, poisoned it, set it on fire, chainsawed it countless times - the jungle is eating the house. I planted a sprig of white jasmine a few years ago and it has framed the front porch, sent runners around the back and is now a curtain wall of blooming jasmine all along the deck and is now sending runners across the crepe myrtles into the neighbor's yard. Even my lawn stayed vibrantly green all winter long and I don't fertilize regularly or anything. The back alley looks like it has an eight foot fence lining it, but it's really a four foot fence with eight feet of honeysuckle on it - impenetrable. It really is bizarre. Even when I bring home perfect fresh carrots, garlic, potatos, shallots - in just a couple of days they start to root in my refrigerator. Almost makes you believe in ley lines or somesuch.

[4_Legs_Good]

13. Mine are still puny....

I have 3 seedlings growing in the window sill, and 3 small plants outside in my Earthbox. They're not growing much. Hopefully, though, they'll hang on until it heats up.

I've never sucessfully grown melons. This year is gonna be different!

david

[Gloria]

16. Damned ground squirrel nipped off one of my sunflower plants

that actually made it through transplanting and the wind!!

One left!! Seeds also starting to sprout, let's see if he gets them, too.
Then it will be on to the peaches later on!!!