Paul Humphreys rambles on....

Paul Humphreys rambles on....
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Monday August 21, 2006

Melons in the UK??

Having got rid of the Nectarine in the greenhouse I felt I needed to grow something in its old terracotta pot. While in a Garden Centre I saw a Melon plant and decided to go for it. It took a long time to get going but soon it was growing well over the string and wire I strung up inside the greenhouse. Eventually flowers appeared and as I kept the door closed except when it is exceptionally hot no insects were going to get in and pollinate the female flowers. As with all fruit and vegetables that have two flowers, male and female you can see a small fruit just behind the female flower. The hand pollination method is simple as long as you have female and male flowers open at the same time. You take the male flower off the stem and strip it of its petals and other stuff so the flower head is fully exposed. It is then a simple matter of poking it into a female flower hoping the pollen will end up where you want it to be. I usually repeated the excercise using several male flowers. So at the moment I have two growing fruit both a bit larger than a tennis ball. As you can see I have had to support them - I got a tip from a chap at the local allotment shop who suggested using the bags that large fruit are sold in. I am not sure when these will be ready but so far so good...

( Aug 21 2006, 12:00:01 AM PDT ) Permalink Comments [1]

Comments:

While on holiday in France I was amazed that my cousin could grow melons in their vegitable patch and they were delicious.

It just shows how little I know about growing things!

Posted by Chris Gerhard on August 22, 2006 at 12:39 AM PDT #