Growing melon in open ground. Melon - a fragrant guest to the autumn table

The harvest of watermelons and melons, which delight vegetable growers with their sugary taste, is also grown in middle lane Russia. You can successfully do even without a greenhouse by preparing warm beds for southern crops.

To get such a wonderful bed, you don’t have to install radiators and connect heating, which is sometimes practiced to heat a greenhouse. The melon and watermelon bed will heat itself. How? First things first.

Preparatory work

Needless to say, watermelon loves warmth, just like melon. Start preparing a bed for watermelons in the fall. Choose the sunniest, unshaded place on the site for planting them. And during the winter, place all organic waste next to it: peelings from vegetables and fruits, peelings, shells, ash and even toilet paper. When the time comes, you won’t have to waste extra effort searching for the necessary organic matter.

Can be prepared for melons wooden box, which you will begin to fill in the winter, and finish before planting.

How to make warm soil

In the spring, you sowed seedlings of watermelons and melons, successfully grew them and are waiting for it to become warmer outside. Sprouts are transplanted in late May - early June. The warmer the bed, the easier the seedlings take root. Need help in the middle zone natural process, that's why we need warm bed, inside of which there will be a rotting “filling” that gives off heat to the plant.

We will gradually fill the ground with this filling. It is easier to do this in 2 steps: on one side of the bed and on the other. Filming upper layer about 40 cm of earth. If you have a box prepared, you will avoid this labor-intensive work. Line the bottom with sheets of cardboard boxes, we throw here branches, sawdust, organic waste, shoots of young weeds, old hay, straw and sprinkle with ash.

To disinfect and speed up the process of heating and subsequent rotting, pour boiling water over it all with the addition of potassium permanganate.

During the entire process, we compact the compost made for watermelons and melons several times. We put a layer of fresh manure on top, which we cover with earth. Experienced vegetable growers may dispute the use of fresh manure - it creates a lot of garbage. But nothing will give as much warmth and fertilize the earth as it does.

The heating bed is ready - now you can safely start growing in open ground melons But there are a few more tricks that will successfully help you grow watermelon and melon and save energy:

1. To prevent the top layer of soil from becoming a dry crust that does not allow air to pass through, mulch it with sawdust.
2. This problem can be solved in another way - to cover the ground with a transparent film, which will help the ground to heat up faster, retain moisture and avoid weeding.
3. In the first weeks after planting, it is necessary to cover not only the soil with film or covering material, but also the seedlings, for which arches are placed. When temperature regime will become more stable, in the summer it will fully come into its own, you can remove the structure.

A bed prepared in this way will support heat-loving plants throughout the summer. You just need to water them on time, and by mid-August tasty and sweet fruits will appear.

Juicy and fragrant melon fruits are valued for their unique taste. The fruits of this culture are used in canning, cooking, and simply as a flavorful dessert that brings a lot of emotions and pleasure. There are melons different sizes and varieties that differ in their taste characteristics. Most of these varieties prefer hot and dry climates and do not tolerate waterlogged soil. Based on the above, I would like to ask a question: how to grow a melon in the country without having special skills and not knowing agricultural technology perfectly?

Melon requires attention and special care. In particular, it is necessary to carefully monitor the humidity in the greenhouse. Each period of plant development requires a certain temperature and humidity.

Varieties and their features

The key point before planting a melon is choosing a variety.

Today there are about 3 thousand different varieties. Making a decision can sometimes be very difficult. The main thing when choosing is to take into account the climate of the region where the melon will be planted. It is also necessary to take into account early ripeness, the size of the bush, shoots and fruits. For planting in a greenhouse, varieties with short shoots and small bush dimensions are suitable.

The Alushta variety ripens within 70 days and has high yields and large fruits oval shape. The weight of the fruit ranges from 1.2 to 1.5 kg. The color of the fruit is yellow with an orange tint and dark orange spots in the form of streaks. The pulp is sweet and juicy, white in color. Taster rating: 4.6.

The Dido variety is a mid-early variety and ripens in 75 days. Fruits (up to 2 kg) are spherical and elliptical, often medium to large in size. The fruits have yellow with a pronounced continuous mesh. The thickness of the light cream pulp reaches 6 cm, the pulp is very juicy, crispy and sweet in taste. Taster rating: 4.8.

The Dessertnaya 5 variety is mid-season, has small (from 1.3 to 1.6 kg) oval-shaped fruits and is characterized by increased productivity. The white-green flesh of the fruit is quite sweet and very tender. The variety lasts a long time in storage at the dacha and is resistant to diseases. Taster rating: 4.8.

Watermelon and melon can be grown in the country; it is no more difficult than growing cucumbers or tomatoes.

The Fortuna variety is a mid-early variety and has a ripening period of 69 to 79 days. The yellow, oval-shaped fruits (weighing up to 4.2 kg) are sometimes covered with green spots and have a continuous or partial mesh. The thickness of the pulp is 6 cm, it is juicy and sweet in taste. Taster rating: 4.4. Characteristic feature This variety is highly resistant to diseases and powdery mildew, it is easily grown in the middle zone of our state.

Many gardeners call the Yuzhanka variety “Water Lily”. Yuzhanka has large fruits (up to 1-1.9 kg) of a round shape with a yellow-orange color and characteristic ribs. The variety is high-yielding and most suitable for the middle zone. High sugar content, pulp white and quite light. This resistant variety, which resists powdery mildew and other diseases well. Tasting score: 4.7 points. The Kolkhoznitsa variety, similar in characteristics to Yuzhanka, has very sweet pulp, the fruits grow up to 1 kg, and the taster rating is 5.0.

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Soil preparation and high-quality seed sowing

The most preferred predecessors of this crop are: wheat, corn, perennial varieties various herbs, barley, onion, cucumber, cabbage. It is not recommended to use the same soil for 2 years. This is fraught with the occurrence of diseases, deterioration in the quality of fruits and a decrease in the number of crops. Light soils that are rich in organic fertilizers are most suitable for this crop.

The soil for melon in the country begins to be prepared in the fall. After harvesting, shallow peeling of the top layer of soil is carried out to a depth of 10 cm with a harrow or special discs, adding everything necessary fertilizers and plow the ground to a depth of 25-30 cm. Clay soils diluted with sand. On small summer cottages all operations are carried out manually using the necessary tool. With the onset of spring, they pass over the surface of the soil with a harrow, followed by cultivation. Before sowing, the soil surface is leveled.

The most favorable period for sowing is the 3rd ten days of April - the 1st ten days of May. The soil at the dacha these days should warm up to +14-16°C. The complex of these factors will ensure high yield melons For sowing, it is advisable to take larger, processed seeds. special composition. Typically this is a mixture boric acid with part of zinc sulfate. Treatment is needed to disinfect and destroy pathogenic microorganisms.

Some agricultural technicians believe that the only way to properly harden seeds is by hardening them. To do this, they are immersed in water at a temperature of 35°C, empty seeds float to the surface and are removed. After planting material incubated for 24 hours at a temperature of 20°C. Next, the temperature is gradually reduced to zero and maintained for another 20 hours. The cycle is repeated three times before planting the seeds in the soil.

There are two options for planting seeds: in the ground and in peat pots with soil for growing seedlings. From 2 to 3 seeds are planted in one pot to a depth of 4-5 cm. The temperature in the room with the pots should not drop below 15°C. After a week, the first shoots should appear. The weaker ones are removed and only 1 strongest sprout is left. Watering is carried out in normal mode without waterlogging the soil and wetting the stem of the sprout. After 25-30 days, the seedlings can be planted in the ground.

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Planting seedlings, growing season and plant fertilization

Seedlings for growing melons are planted in holes at intervals of 75-80 cm in width and length. During the planting process, due attention is paid to avoid damaging the roots of the plant. As a rule, a melon is planted with soil from the pot in which it grew. A little humus is added to the hole and water is poured in, the stem is not deepened, watered again and sprinkled with dry soil. The further development of the plant is determined weather conditions and the level of early ripening, which depends on the melon variety.

Melon is very sensitive to changes in conditions environment(lighting, temperature, humidity and chemical composition soil) and quite often changes varietal characteristics. The period of crop development is conventionally divided into 2 stages: from germination to flowering and from ovary to fruit ripening.

Excellent harvest results can be achieved by experimenting with the selection of melon varieties depending on the planting and growing areas. Do not forget that while the melon is ripening, the soil must be regularly loosened and weeded. The growth of lashes must be controlled and redirected in the right direction. Place a piece of board or plywood under the set fruits. This will protect the melon from rotting when it comes into contact with wet soil.

Melon is quite demanding regarding the presence in the soil of substances and microelements necessary for growth. It significantly accelerates its growth when nitrogen-phosphorus fertilizers are applied. The application of such fertilizers will increase the yield several times, but at the same time the sugar content of the fruit will decrease. It is better to apply fertilizer in fractions: the first part when sowing, and the second part - in the flowering phase.

Many people love melon, but it remains expensive even in season. It’s good that now there is global warming and even in central Russia you can grow sweet and aromatic melons. Summer residents and those living in villages have been growing them in their gardens for a long time, and let beginners listen to the advice of experienced gardeners.

Melon likes the place to be sunny and warm, protected from strong winds. It is best to organize a plantation on a southern slope. In the sun less than in a shaded place it clings to melons and they ripen faster.

The plant does best when the soil is light. This means that it has a neutral pH. These melons can withstand summer drought and grow in fairly salty soils, but acidic soil and excess water are contraindicated for them.

Those whose soil is slightly acidic and they know it should reduce its acidity the folk way. It is enough to add a little ash to each hole where seeds are thrown or seedlings are planted and it will even out the acidity of the soil.

If the owner wants to get an excellent harvest in the season, he must take care of fertilizing that area in the fall. During this period, future beds are dug up, adding compost with humus and mineral fertilizer (double superphosphate).

Experienced gardeners say that when fresh pus is added to the soil, the melons grow especially large. All fertilizers are useful and mineralize the soil.

Those who live in central Russia sow melon seeds from March 15 or April 25. They only need to be dug in to a depth of 1.2 cm. Therefore, they can be thrown into the soil that has been dug up and leveled with a rake and re-leveled with a rake.

Some gardeners buy special soil from a flower shop, sprinkle it on top and sow seeds into it. When the owner makes the mixture himself, it should include: peat, with turf soil, humus + mineral supplement, ash. Take a little more humus, and the rest of the ingredients in equal quantities.

If a gardener decides to first grow seedlings and then plant them in open ground, what will be needed: large plastic cups, cut plastic bottles or pots with a diameter of at least 10 cm. After the sprouts hatch, 40 days will pass and the grown seedlings can be planted in open ground.

Melon seedlings are placed on the windowsill. It is best if it is facing south.

Ideal when the air temperature is from +20 ºС to +25 ºС. At night it can drop from +18 ºС to +20 º C. If it’s raining or cloudy outside and it’s getting colder, then the temperature in the room where the plants are also needed to be reduced, otherwise the seedlings will stretch upward and grow weakened.

During the period when seedlings develop, they need to be fertilized:

1. When 1 leaf appears, superphosphate, potassium chloride (you need to read the instructions), and ammonium nitrate are added to the soil.
2. After 1 feeding, 14 days will pass and 2 are required.

From May 10, when the plants have 5 or even 7 leaves, it is time to transfer the seedlings to the site. The owner pours a lot of water into each container. Then he can cut them and pull out the plant along with a lump of earth, so it is best to plant the seedlings in the holes.

You need to retreat approximately 55 cm from one seedling to another. The necks of the roots do not need to be buried deep in the ground. At high humidity they may be attacked by a fungus.

To avoid fungal diseases, the soil around the plants is mulched. Can be used sawdust, straw mixed with sawdust and other materials. For weakened plants, they are watered daily with warm liquid, and when they become stronger, they are stopped and then watered less frequently.

How to care for melon plantings?

The most famous way of growing melons is by spreading them or when the vines curl along the ground and are tied on them, juicy melons grow. This is the simplest and most natural method of propagation for plants.

When the main shoot has 4 leaves, pinch off its top. The plant will send out 2 shoots on the sides. They will be strong and can be tied to the ground. This method is good because the juices and energy of the plant will not be spent on the development of green tops, but will be directed to flowering, formation and development of fruits.

If the owner wants to grow melons on trellises, then he makes a 2 m frame in advance. Only 4 days pass and the plants can be tied to the trellises with ropes. Some time will pass and the melon will curl along these ropes.

Soon and side shoots will develop well and will need to be tied with ropes to the trellis frame. The fact that the melons will hang above the ground is good. They will not rot, and with plenty of sun they will ripen faster.

Melons are watered daily while they are actively growing. But when the fruits grow, if it rains, additional watering is not needed. At this time, the melons gain sugar and become sweet.

The plant loves moisture, but there is no need to flood it. The roots may rot.

Melons need feeding when the lateral shoots are actively growing, then when the buds are setting. You need to select mineral and natural fertilizers in liquid form and alternate them.

"Important! The gardener must know the norm nitrogen fertilizers and do not feed melons beyond it. Otherwise, they will take longer to develop and mature.”

The video tells how to grow melons in open ground:

How to protect melons from diseases and insects?

It happens that gardeners, and especially on large farms, do not properly process tools and they transfer fungi from contaminated soils to healthy ones. This has a detrimental effect on the harvest.

When the owner notices the first signs of disease, in order not to lose the harvest, he must immediately take action and treat that disease. They come in varying degrees of severity and contagiousness.

In melons and gourds it is necessary to fight the following basic diseases:

• Powdery mildew. It's a fungus. Spots appear on the plant. They are bluish-whitish, with brown. If the plant is not treated, they will grow on the leaves and stem. Then the leaves will dry out, and the fruits will develop much more slowly and gain weight. The tops need to be treated with sulfur powder. Take it g/m2. 20 days before harvesting, the tops are not processed.
• Downy mildew. Yellow and green spots form on the leaves. They need to be sprayed with an aqueous solution of urea. For 1 liter of water, 1 g of urea is required.
• Fusarium wilt. Melon leaves become lighter, then spots form on them gray. Then the foliage dries up. The disease is especially dangerous when the plants have just begun to bud. It is necessary to spray the entire plantation with potassium chloride dissolved in water. The solution is required to be concentrated. Spots appear on the leaves. They are bright pink and brown. The lashes become brittle. Melons become deformed and begin to rot.
• Anthracnose. The main symptoms of this disease are that spots appear on the leaves. They are bright pink and brown, and then holes will form in those places and the leaves will wither. The lashes will become brittle. The melons will begin to change shape and rot. To save the plantation, it needs to be sprayed with Bordeaux mixture. This procedure is repeated 3 or 4 times in a row.

"Important! If the owner wants to protect the melons from fungus, he must treat the seeds with a special antifungal agent before planting.”

Plants that become infected with cucumber or watermelon mosaic are removed from the beds and burned. There are no cures for these diseases.

In addition to viral diseases, melons are affected by insects. Their larvae, which actively eat foliage, also cause harm. Main pests:

• spider mites;
• wireworms;
• cutworms that gnaw plants.

About collecting melons

When is the harvest harvested? When the fruits are perfectly ripe. Signs that melons can be harvested are their easy separation from the vine attached to them, when they are the same color as melons of this variety, and a network of cracks runs along the skin and they are one next to the other.

The most ripe melons are stored for only 30 to 40 days. Those melons in which the mesh occupies 50% of the area are stored longer. They can be stored in a cellar or basement where it is cool for up to 6 months.

There are varieties of melons that do not have a characteristic mesh. They are collected if they see that the peel has acquired a bright honey-yellow hue.

Definitely the best melons grow in countries Central Asia, but in a significant part of our country you can get tasty and aromatic fruits. Sometimes this is done in a greenhouse, but melon loves the sun very much, and the most delicious specimens grow in open ground. If climatic conditions allow, then you must plant it on your site, and growing it is as easy as shelling pears.

What kind of soil does melon like?

Melon - warm and light-loving plant, which does not tolerate shading, so you need to choose the sunniest garden bed for it. The crop grows well in hot and even dry weather, but humidity above 70% is no longer very good for it. Melon has very powerful roots, penetrating up to a meter deep and extracting the necessary moisture from there. The plant, which is not very large in appearance, requires a large free space for its comfortable existence, so you cannot save on the beds. When choosing a location, it must be taken into account that the plants must be protected from northern winds. At the same time, it is better if it is a small hill where excess water does not accumulate. Moisture has a detrimental effect on melons, causing rot and fungal diseases.

Melons should be exposed to sunlight as much as possible.

Melon is very demanding regarding the chemical and fractional composition of the soil. The plant loves light soils, preferably medium loams with an acidity close to neutral. If clay predominates in the area, when digging you need to add river sand(half a bucket per 1 m2). Acidic soils should be made in advance by adding dolomite flour, chalk or slaked lime. When choosing a place in the garden, you need to remember what crops grew there before. The best predecessors- garlic, onions, legumes, cabbage, corn, cucumbers. Melon grows poorly after carrots and tomatoes. It should not be planted after repeated cultivation of melons. They can grow in one bed for a maximum of two years in a row, after which a five-year break must be provided.

Like most vegetable plants It is better to prepare the bed in the fall, although there will be time for this in the spring: melon is not planted very early. The area must be dug up with a shovel, adding the necessary fertilizers. For 1 m2 of beds, about a bucket of rotted manure or good compost is required. In the spring, you need to go over the bed with a cultivator, first adding superphosphate and wood ash (40 g and a half-liter jar per 1 m2, respectively). In order for the soil to ripen and warm up faster, immediately after the snow melts, you can cover the soil with plastic film.

Preparing seeds for planting

Melon can be planted through the seedling stage and by direct sowing in open ground, but seed preparation is the same in both cases. They are not always specially purchased in stores; sometimes they are chosen from the fruit they like, bought for food. The second case will not always lead to success. Firstly, like most crops, melon has hybrids (F1), and taking seeds from them is useless: it’s not clear what can grow. Secondly, markets often sell crops grown in other climates, and planting Central Asian varieties in the middle zone is completely futile. Therefore, it is better to study the literature, find out which varieties are zoned, and buy reliable seeds in a specialized store. If you are planting a melon not for the first time and taking seeds from your harvest, you need to select the largest and sweetest fruits for this purpose.

Important! Do not plant fresh seeds. The best ones are between the ages of three and six years. The fact is that young seeds produce a huge amount of barren flowers: male flowers significantly predominate in quantity over female ones, and the harvest is scanty.

To disinfect, melon seeds are soaked for 20–30 minutes in a pink solution of potassium permanganate, then washed clean water. To increase germination, some gardeners soak seeds in solutions of growth stimulants or boric acid with the addition of zinc sulfate. Actually, if pickling in potassium permanganate is necessary, since it significantly reduces the risk of diseases, then growth stimulants are not needed. Good seeds In warm weather they sprout just fine.

Melon seeds are very similar to cucumber seeds and are easy to handle.

When growing melons in central Russia, it is advisable to pre-harden them. To do this they are soaked in warm water(30–35 °C), after cooling, keep in water for another couple of hours, and then transfer to a damp cloth and put in the refrigerator for 12–15 hours.

Do I need to soak melon seeds before planting?

If you carry out preparatory operations, the question of the need for soaking is removed by itself. In fact, the seeds are no longer dry, but even slightly swollen. But many gardeners sow them already sprouted, and to do this, after hardening, they are sent back into the water room temperature. After 4 hours, remove and lightly dry. The soaking and drying operations alternate until three times, after which they scatter the seeds on a damp cloth and watch them hatch. As soon as the shell bursts slightly and the beginnings of roots appear, begin sowing.

Soaking melon seeds is one of the conditions for obtaining a bountiful harvest.

The question of the need for soaking is not idle. We all know the theory called “Vegetable garden for the lazy”. If you do everything “as written,” there will be no energy or time left for life, and especially for work in production. Therefore, we often neglect operations that seem unnecessary to us. The author of these lines (who lives in the Middle Volga region) has never in his life pickled melon seeds or soaked them. It cannot be said that the yields are always high and stable, but there are several beautiful fruits without unnecessary hassle It grows every year in a small garden bed.

Sowing time

The timing of planting melons in open ground depends on whether it is planting seedlings or direct sowing of seeds in a garden bed. Sowing seeds directly into open ground is recommended only for the southern regions. An attempt to do this in the middle zone and in the north of the country can lead to the fact that the fruits of even the most early varieties They will have time to start, but will not ripen. Best time sowing melon at home or in a greenhouse for seedlings - end of April.

Planting seedlings in open ground is possible only when daytime temperatures are stable at 15–20 o C, and at night they do not drop below 6 o C. In the middle zone, this does not occur before the end of May. Of course, in more early dates There are also periods of warm weather lasting even up to two weeks, but usually they are replaced by cold snaps, so there is no need to rush to plant seedlings. In the north, the dates shift another couple of weeks towards summer. If it gets sharply cold, and the seedlings have already been planted, they should be covered with non-woven materials, and more solid shelters should be added at night.

Melon seedlings are recommended to be planted in open ground after the threat of return frosts has passed.

Sowing seeds directly into open ground is possible a week earlier. As a rule, the soil in mid-May, even in the middle zone, has already warmed up, the seeds will not die, and by the time they decide to sprout, the threat of frost will go away.

Is it possible to plant melons in June?

It may seem that the melon planting dates can be shifted even to June in order to avoid unnecessary risk. This is quite possible if we are talking about planting strong, prepared seedlings, the seeds for which were sown no later than the beginning of May. Is it possible to sow in open ground in June? This question is quite subtle. Yes, the plants will have time to grow, bloom, produce a harvest, and early ripening varieties they'll take the sugar and give it plenty edible fruits. But there is another side to the problem.

Melon - plant short day . This means that for the timely onset of flowering, it needs not too long daylight hours, and in June in the middle zone it reaches 17 hours. Therefore, the sooner the seeds are placed in the ground (even in seedling cups), the less time is required for flowering to begin.

In addition, experience shows that melons sown from mid-May and later produce much fewer flowers than those sown life cycle which began earlier, in February-April. Excessive sunlight is not very beneficial for young plants. Therefore, if possible, you should not delay sowing melons.

How to plant a melon

Melon can be sown in a garden bed with seeds or planted with pre-grown seedlings. And if in the south no one is engaged in growing seedlings, then in the northern regions it is impossible to do without it.

Distance between seedlings

Regardless of the planting method, the placement pattern is the same. It is based on the requirements of the plant for its growing conditions. And melons, in addition to the usual care, also require the formation of bushes (removing excess vines, pinching, etc.), without which the harvest turns out to be meager. This means that when planting plants, it is necessary to provide for the convenience of subsequent care for them.

Exist various schemes growing melons, but in any case the plants should grow freely. The most popular is line planting, in which a minimum of 70, and preferably 90, cm is left between the rows. In this case, the holes are made in a checkerboard pattern, but in each of the rows the distance between adjacent holes should be at least half a meter. With denser plantings, caring for the plantation is difficult, and the likelihood of diseases is increased.

Melons need to be given a lot of free space, because they will soon completely occupy it

There are people who like to make a flower bed out of melon plantings. It is made in the form of a circle with a diameter of about one and a half meters. One hole is made in the center of the circle and 5–6 pieces around the circumference.

Planting melon seeds in open ground

Planting melon seeds is as easy as planting most vegetable plants. To do this you need to do the following:

1. In the places designated for planting according to the chosen pattern, make shallow holes up to 5 cm.
2. Add an additional half cup to each well wood ash, a teaspoon of urea and mix well.
3. Carefully water the holes from a ladle warm water until moisture is absorbed into the soil.
4. Place several prepared seeds in each hole at a distance of 3–5 cm from each other.
5. Cover the seeds with soil and lightly compact the soil.
6. If the weather forecast is unfavorable, cover the bed with spunbond or lutrasil.

Shoots can be expected in 1–1.5 weeks, and when will the most strong plants in each hole, the excess will need to be removed.

Video: sowing melon seeds in the garden

Planting seedlings in open ground

When sowing seeds at home or in a greenhouse for seedlings, it must be taken into account that transplanting seedlings into open ground will take place no earlier than in a month. Only when sowing seeds in peat pots or tablets can this be done a little earlier without disturbing the root system. Taking this into account, the start date for work should be determined.

Optimal soil mixture for seedlings consists of equal parts turf soil, sand, peat and humus. You can limit yourself to a peat-sand composition, but then peat should make up slightly more than half of the total volume. You can sow in a box, but transplanting melons from a common container into a garden bed will be very painful, and it is better to take a separate glass for each plant. Optimally - peat pots with a diameter of about 10 cm. Sowing is carried out to a depth of about 2 cm, 2-3 seeds per glass, and a little clean sand is poured on top. Before sowing, the soil is slightly moistened. Optimal temperature when growing seedlings - 20 °C during the day and 15 °C at night, but immediately after the emergence of seedlings it is lowered by 3-5 degrees for several days. Moderate watering is needed. After the seedlings grow a few centimeters, one plant at a time is left in the pot.

Each melon plant needs its own cup; you should not disturb the roots when transplanting into the ground

By the time of planting in the garden, the seedlings should have several pairs of true leaves. Planting seedlings has small features:

1. Before planting in open ground, seedlings must be watered well.
2. The seedling must be removed from the reusable container as carefully as possible without destroying the earthen lump. The whole peat pot is planted in the hole.
3. In the designated places, use a scoop to make holes the size of an earthen clod and water them with warm water.
4. Carefully lower the seedlings into the holes so that they are 1–2 cm above the surface of the ground. Deepening is strictly prohibited.
5. Carefully water the seedlings in the garden bed with warm water from a ladle so that the earthen ball drops no lower than the soil level. Add soil without filling the root collar.
6. Place around plants thin layer clean sand.
7. For the first few days, cover the bed with seedlings non-woven material.

Is it possible to plant a melon in a barrel?

IN last years the fashion has come to plant various vegetables and even strawberries in old unusable barrels. This saves space in the dacha and makes it easier to care for the plantings. Some gardeners plant melons in this way.

To do this, an old barrel is painted with light paint (the roots do not need overheating) and half filled with hay, straw, mown grass, sawdust and other debris. Several buckets are poured on top fertile soil, adding a couple of cans of wood ash. The soil is spilled with a solution of potassium permanganate and the seeds are sown in a barrel. In a standard barrel, it is possible to make only two holes; several seeds are placed in them, just as in a regular garden bed.

For the first time, cover the crops with non-woven material or simply cut off halves of plastic bottles.

Melons are heat-loving, so they feel good in a barrel. Watering is carried out with warm water, and the fertilizers will ripen by themselves at the right time, since there is grass below. Melon vines can hang freely from the walls of the barrel, but at first they try not to let them do this. Only when a really warm summer arrives can they behave as they please.

You can plant any vegetables in a barrel: cucumbers, pumpkins, melons If you try, similar design you can build it on the balcony and grow melons right in apartment building

. Of course, there is no need to drag a huge barrel there, but in a bucket of soil it is quite possible to grow one melon and get several fruits from it.

Neighborhood with other cultures Our summer resident cannot allow space on the site to be empty, and rightly so. If nothing can be planted next to some plants, then melon is not one of them. Best neighbors for melon, radishes, beans, corn, and herbs are considered.

Undesirable neighbors are cucumbers and potatoes. Potatoes emit substances that cause melon plants to wilt, and cucumbers are so related to melons that in some cases they can cross-pollinate, which spoils the quality of the crop. And, of course, there should be no trees near the melon, since shading is contraindicated for this crop. The question often arises about joint plantings

melon and watermelon. It turns out that they coexist perfectly with each other, especially since their growing conditions are almost the same. However, it is necessary to take into account that both crops grow very much, so when planting you need to leave significant distances between them.

Melon care includes the most common agronomic activities. Watering is needed infrequently, only in obviously dry times, but before the fruits appear, it is still advisable to do it weekly: at the root and always with water heated in the sun. When the fruits appear, watering is reduced and then stopped altogether. Loosening with the simultaneous destruction of weeds is possible until the melons have grown and filled the entire space. When side lashes appear, the melon is lightly hilled. Feeding is needed three times:

• 2 weeks after disembarkation;
• at the beginning of flowering;
• at the beginning of fruit growth.

There is no need to give a lot of fertilizers; it is best to limit yourself to diluted mullein.

As soon as the seedlings continue to grow in a new place, their main stem is pinched so that the plant spends all its resources on the formation and growth of fruits. Ultimately, each bush should have one main stem and two side stems. (For hybrids it’s the other way around: after the third leaf, pinch off the side stems, the main female flowers they form on the main shoot).

The maximum number of fruits that one bush can bear is 6–7 pieces. Often trellises are installed for melons. In this case, tying is required - these plants do not tend to climb up on their own. If trellises are not installed, care must be taken to ensure that the fruits do not lie on bare ground and rot. Place a piece of board or plywood under each melon.

Growing melons on trellises saves space and protects the fruit from damage.

Features of planting melons in the regions

The main difference in climatic conditions between regions for growing melons is the number of warm summer days. This is what leaves an imprint not only on the conditions for caring for plants, but also on the method of planting them in beds. Growing melons is extremely difficult only in regions with a harsh climate, for example, in Siberia.

Central Russia

In central Russia, a few varieties of melons are grown. The most traditional are Altai and Kolkhoznitsa. It is not easy to harvest a good harvest here, and direct sowing of seeds in open ground is almost never used. First, seedlings are grown at home. Work on growing seedlings begins after April 20, and at the end of May they are transferred under film covers. Hardening of seeds before sowing is mandatory. You can transplant seedlings into open ground no earlier than the tenth of June.

The melon variety Kolkhoznitsa is one of the most popular in central Russia.

The success of the entire event depends on the current weather. In other years, the harvest manages to ripen and is quite decent. But there are very rainy and cold seasons, and then the melon in the open ground may not even start, limiting itself to growing abundant green mass. Melons in good years successfully grown in Bryansk, Novgorod, Vladimir, Kaluga regions. New varieties are appearing, so this crop will soon move even further north.

Moscow region

The Moscow region also belongs to the middle zone, and this is an area in which growing melons is risky. You can get a normal harvest in the Moscow region only by using seedlings. Seeds should be sown no earlier than mid-April; there is enough daylight at this time. Seedlings are planted in early summer on small mounds. They often arrange for this “ smart garden bed": the ground, well seasoned with organic fertilizers, is covered with black film, and melon seedlings are planted in holes cut in it. And even in such a bed, for the first time, young shoots are covered with spunbond overnight. As soon as the flowers begin to appear, the covering is removed: by this time real warmth has already arrived.

Historical fact. In the Moscow region, melons were planted on warm manure beds already in the 16th century. True, they did this using greenhouses, which were opened only in the most sunny days. They used “biofuel” for growing melons - sheep or horse dung, which slowly decomposes and warms the greenhouse. And now they try to plant melons in greenhouses, but sometimes good results can also be obtained in open ground.

Planting melon in Belarus

The Belarusian climate is similar to Moscow, but milder: in winter there is no sharp alternation of frost and thaw, and spring comes a little earlier. Melons here, as in the Moscow region, are grown through seedlings, which are planted on permanent place at the beginning of summer. Not all varieties in Belarus can produce a good harvest of tasty fruits; hybrids are most often sown: Aikido F1, Caramel F1, Petra F1, etc. Seedlings are planted on ridges with a distance of more than a meter between them. Planting on the plain is used less frequently.

Many people try to sow melons directly into the ground, sometimes this option leads to success, especially in the southern regions: Minsk, Gomel. But even there you can sow in the ground no earlier than the end of May, and the crops have to be covered with film for the first time. Growing melon through seedlings allows you to bring the harvest closer by two weeks, and the use of film covers gives an advance in terms of almost a month.

Melon variety Caramel F1 is characterized by stable fruit formation under stressful conditions

Ural region

Summer in the Urals is short and cold, so melons often do not have time to ripen. Be sure to use here seedling method, and often seedlings are planted not in a garden bed, but in a greenhouse. Suitable varieties only a few pieces, the most popular are Sybarite's Dream and Cinderella.

Planting seedlings in open ground is possible only in mid-June, and even at this time for the first couple of weeks it is covered with film or trimmed plastic bottles. Most often you have to stretch the film onto a high frame and not remove it for the first one and a half to two weeks. Receipt good harvests It is not guaranteed in this case either, but most often it is possible to obtain quite tasty and fully ripened fruits.

Melon of the Sybarite Dream variety has sweet pulp with a delicate aroma

Video: melons in the Urals

Melon is a southern plant, but enthusiasts are trying to plant it in most regions of our country. In harsh regions you cannot do without seedlings; in the middle zone you can sometimes sow melon directly in open ground, and in the south it grows freely after simply sowing the seeds. You often have to take risks, but the Russian summer resident respects the risk and tries to promote this culture further and further to the north.

Melon is a heat-loving crop, but with the choice of variety and proper care, it can be grown not only in the South, but also in central Russia and Belarus.

One of the factors successful cultivation, is to prepare the soil for planting melons. What kind of soil should a melon have?

First of all, light sandy loam or sandy soil; you cannot grow a melon on heavy soil.

Soil preparation for melon

Soil cultivation is carried out in the fall to a depth of at least 22-25 cm after applying organic fertilizers. In early spring, to seal off moisture and accelerate weed germination, cultivation is carried out to a depth of 10-12 cm. Spring digging for melons is also carried out to a depth of 22-25 cm.

When placing melons after pumpkin and nightshade crops, it is necessary to remove their remains before and after harrowing, cultivation to a depth of 8-12 cm and disinfect using microfertilizers containing copper sulfate, manganese sulfate, iron sulfate and boric acid.

The best predecessors

The best predecessors for melon are onions, early cabbage, table root vegetables. Bad predecessors: pumpkin and nightshade crops. For your health phytosanitary soil conditions, the melon should be returned to its original place no earlier than after 2-3 years.

Fertilizer application

The best organic fertilizer for growing melon is rotted manure or humus, which is applied to the soil at a rate of 3-4 kg/sq. m in autumn or spring. When applied locally (into the wells), the dose of humus can be halved. The application of fresh manure under melons leads to a deterioration in the marketability and taste properties of the fruit, and ultimately to a decrease in the plant’s resistance to diseases and pests.

On acidic soddy-podzolic soils, calcareous materials are added - under predecessor: early cabbage or table root vegetables. In exceptional cases, the soil is limed directly for melon, but no later than 14-15 days before planting the seedlings in a permanent place. The most favorable time for liming is autumn. The most commonly used forms of lime fertilizers are ground limestone, dolomite flour, burnt slaked lime, and chalk. Approximate lime standards for different countries granulometric The composition of sod-podzolic soils (in kg per 100 sq. m) are given in this table.