Correct planting of melons in open ground

Melon is a popular culture that is successfully cultivated all over the world. Therefore, having your own plot and the desire to create with your own hands, attention should be paid to the cultivation and planting rules in the open field of this favorite summer-autumn delicacy so that it can look healthy and with a wonderful taste.

In different regions, you can sow the melon directly with seeds, or plant it first for seedlings. Cultivation and care must be carried out regardless of the terrain, it may also be necessary to form and, feed or tie to a trellis.

Is it possible to grow melons in the open field in the country

Melon is a thermophilic plant that need a lot of light... She does well in hot weather and even drought. The maximum moisture content for this culture is 60-70%.

The culture has a massive root system that is capable of extracting moisture up to one meter deep. This plant requires a lot of free space for intensive development and comfortable growth.

Although the melon is southern, it can be grown almost anywhere, the main thing is to know how to do it. Now a sufficient number of varieties have been bred that take root and bear fruit in moderately warm and cold climates.

The most popular varieties of melon to plant in the Middle Lane and Ukraine

According to the reviews of experienced gardeners, the best varieties to plant in a country house in central Russia or Ukraine, in the climatic conditions of the Moscow region are Altai and Kolkhoznitsa.

Altai

Early maturity, allows you to harvest after 70 days growth of culture from the period of seedling formation. A medium-sized plant forms a moderate length of a lash.

The fruits are golden in color and are oval-shaped. The ability to achieve 1.5KG... The delicate pulp is colored in a light orange color, characterized by sleepiness, sweetness and graininess.

Of the positive characteristics: adaptability to adverse weather conditions, excellent transportability and keeping quality.

Collective farmer

Melon belongs to the early maturing variety. The first crop can be harvested after 75 days after disembarkation.

The plant forms small orange-yellow round fruits with a convex stalk attachment. On average, the weight of one fruit is 1.5 kg. The dense pulp and strong crust makes it easy to transport the crop, which can be stored after harvest for a week.

In such conditions, only certain varieties can grow, which include Rannyaya 133 and Yantarnaya.

Early 133

Early ripe variety, growing season - 60-70 days... The fruit is oval-shaped and has a yellow skin. Has a white, dense, tender, sweet pulp of excellent taste and aroma. The weight of one fruit is approximately 1.5KG.

It is appreciated for its excellent commercial qualities, good transportability and high immunity to major crop diseases.

Amber

Variety of mid-early ripening period. The growing season from germination to ripening of melons 70-85 days... A plant with long strands of medium vigor. Juicy spherical fruits with juicy, fairly thick pulp and weight up to 2.5 kg.

What varieties are suitable for sowing in Bashkiria and the Urals

Vegetable growers of the Urals and Bashkiria wishing to grow melon on their plots should choose a more suitable variety for the Ural region. The ideal seed material for melons is the Dream of Sybarite and Cinderella.

Sybarite's dream

An early variety that reaches technical ripeness in 50-55 days... The fruits have an original elongated shape and a green striped peel. The mass of one fruit is 400 g.

Juicy crispy flesh of a whitish shade with a specific honey aroma and taste. The main advantages are increased productivity, continuous fruiting until frost, good disease resistance.

Cinderella

The variety belongs to early ripening crops, since the growing season is 60 days, for which the fruits are gaining up to 1.5 kg weight.

Melons are yellow with a raised mesh pattern. The pulp is white in color and is characterized by juiciness and sweetness. Due to its rich aroma, it is appreciated in the culinary business.

The advantages include high resistance to temperature extremes, various diseases and pest attacks. The disadvantages are short storage and poor transportability from the rather thin crust of the melons.

Planting rules

There are several ways to plant a crop:

• sowing seeds;
• seedling method;
• with the help of grafted seedlings.

Preparation for planting with seeds

To obtain a high-quality harvest, competent preparation of seeds for sowing is important. You can buy planting material in special stores or collect it yourself from the fruit grown in your own garden and germinate it at home.

When collecting seeds at home, you must follow the basic rule: harvest only from large sweet melons.

One more nuance is important: only in the third year after collection you can use seeds as planting material. Since fresh specimens develop a plant with the absence of female inflorescences, as a result of which they do not have the ability to bear fruit.

In order for the seedlings to be friendly, and the plants to develop strong, seed material is needed pickle in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for an hour. Then soak at 20-25̊ degrees in a thick layer of gauze cloth, which is immersed in a container so that the water only slightly covers the seeds.

Every 4-6 hours, the seeds must be ventilated and immersed in water again. The total soaking time is 12 hours. Then sprinkle the seeds in a thin layer on a damp cloth and keep until the first shoots appear.

Site selection and soil preparation for planting seedlings

Melon is a light-loving plant that hates shading... Therefore, for this culture, areas well-lit by the sun, as much as possible protected from cold winds, are suitable.

When planning the planting of a melon beauty in the garden, you need to take into account what crops grew in the garden last year and the neighboring influence of different plants on the melon. As predecessors can be garlic, onion, cabbage, peas, beans, winter cereals.

Good neighbors that will repel pests, improve taste and promote growth are considered turnip, basil, radish.

The plant is not recommended to be planted in one place. more than two years... It will be possible to return it to its previous place of growth without sacrificing yield for 5 years.

Melon is very demanding on the soil, so a light, organic medium loamy soil with neutral acidity is suitable for it.

The plant cultivation area must be properly prepared:

• autumn land dig a shovel on a bayonet and add humus, in the presence of heavy soil, saturate it with river sand;
• with the onset of spring, sprinkle the bed, using peat or ash to accelerate the melting of snow, then cover it with a film to ensure maximum heating of the soil;
• when the surface layer of the soil warms up to a temperature of +13 degrees, conduct deep loosening with the addition of potash and phosphate minerals, strictly observing the amount of fertilizers applied, which the manufacturers indicate on the packages;
• before starting the planting process, re-dig the site, refueling with fertilizers that contain nitrogen.

Conditions for proper cultivation and care

Gardeners are recommended to plant a melon in the ground only in the southern regions. In the northern latitudes and in the middle lane, it is better to grow only using mature seedlings, because the melon can have time to emerge from the seeds, but will not bear fruit before the cold weather. Favorable time for disembarkation - last days of April.

To do this, you need to perform the following procedure, care and love the plant properly:

1. Make holes, 5-6 cm deep. Planting scheme - 1 m between rows, 0.7 m distance in a row.
2. Equip each hole with humus and irrigate with warm water.
3. Place 3-4 seeds in each hole.
4. Water the planted seed material and cover it with dry soil.

The fruits are ripening late July - early August... When ripe, the vegetable acquires its characteristic color, the pattern is clearly revealed and the characteristic aroma inherent in melon appears. Full maturity is signaled by easy separation from the peduncle.

According to the gardener's lunar calendar in 2018, the melon planting process can be started on March 27,28, from April 20 to April 24 and in May any day from the 19th to the 23rd.

The key to the successful cultivation of melons and gourds is sunny warm weather, when pollination and the development of sugary juicy fruits are actively taking place. It is important to choose a suitable variety and follow simple agricultural techniques, dive and pinch seedlings if necessary, and then a rich increase in the yield of melons is ensured.