home grown cantaloupes Archives - Mother 2 Mother Blog

Growing Cantaloupe in Your Kitchen Garden

September 5, 2014 by Rhonda Gales

My second favorite item on my backyard vegetable gardening list is home grown cantaloupes. My garden is winding down and I’m feeling a little sad. So, I sooth myself when I’m closing the garden for the year by planning my garden for the next season. I spend months deciding what I want to plant and that usually cheers me up. Yesterday, I pulled my last squash and cantaloupes. I have tons of tomatoes and green beans left. So, I will preserve and freeze those next week-end. I see tons of tomato sauce and salsa on the horizon. Tomato sauce and salsa are great ways to use in the garlic, basil and oregano in the garden too.

how to grow cantaloupes

These are Hale’s Best Cantaloupes below, which is an Heirloom seed. Let me tell you they are delicious. I’ll be having fresh cantaloupes for the next few days, and I can’t wait. I started the cantaloupe plants under grow lights in mid-March and moved them into my garden in June. If you’re wondering how to grow cantaloupes in your kitchen garden, I have the answer:

You can direct sow the seeds in the garden when the soil warms up. Follow the instructions on the seed packet.
You can winter sow your seeds in bottle green houses.
Start your seed under grow lights.
Purchase plants from a nursery or garden.

I mulched around the plants with straw and left about 6 feet of space for them to spread. I harvested eight cantaloupe from 2 plants. Not bad for a pack of $1.00 seeds. I’ll be saving seed from these melons to plant next year and the year after that. Hales Best Cantaloupes are the sweetest and most delicious on the market.

I’m a frugal gardener. I put my garden in for pennies by purchasing Heirloom seeds and than saving the seeds from year to year. Purchasing plants from garden centers can get expensive. Especially, if your goal is to garden on a budget. I choose what I want to splurge on, and groceries is not one of those things. If you plan to save seed from your garden, make sure you don’t purchase or use Hybrid seeds or plants. You want the same characteristics of the parent plant versus inbreeding/cross breeding. So, heirlooms are the way to go.

I planted Belle peppers, which performed nicely too. After picking them off the plants, I usually chop and freeze my peppers if I don’t have a dish that requires them planned. I like to get them into freezer bags as soon as I pick them off the vines. The sooner you lock in the freshness the better. Did you know that orange, red, and yellow peppers are green before they turn into these beautiful colors? I love stuffing the colorful peppers. They make a nice statement on the table.

So, if you want these colorful peppers, you have patience. It takes a while for them to transition from green to the red, yellow or orange stage. Additionally, there are also male and female peppers. Finally, check out how to determine and use male and female peppers here.