Season I have the Burpee charentais hybrid Honey Girl, if you're interested. I've given up growing all melons except Burpees Early Crenshaw hybrid (which I fell in love with), so the Honey Girls are up for grabs. Check my list to see if there's anything you might want or can trade for. Email me if so.

Michelle, I'd like to trade.. I have..Blue Hubbard Squash,Romanesco Zucchini, Trombocini Zucchini- Genovese Zucchini- Eightball Zucchini- Palarmo Zucchini- Red Italian cantaloupe- Jubilee Watermelon and Heirloom Tomatoes too many to list.. Let me know what you think.. Joey

I saw you are in zone 3 so I figured if you can grow okra you can grow melons! If it works I enclose a link where they use corn as companion. I would not because I would be afraid corn would shade okra too much. It shaded my squash too much so I am only planting cukes and pole beans with my corn now. OK, amaranth too. I googled a lot when I was trying to decide what to plant with my okra but there is a lot of contempt for okra out there in cyberspace. People call it slimy and word like that. I love okra! So in other words, not much information, but I have found several references to them liking to be with melons. Maybe you can find a short season cold weather melon? It is difficult to find real answers on all this companion planting, so I don't know what melons do for okra. I like the living mulch effect and to me it is efficient space use since I do not have a lot of space. Here is a link that might be useful: okra and corn?

CarolynCl, I think the Japanese are excellent breeders of hybrids, but are there any true Japanese heirlooms? I love their Sunrise melon but don't know if it's Heirloom/OP or hybrid. Some of the other melons (Gaya, Hanmei, Kondoz) at the Asian markets were nowhere near as good as that. I've had some Vietnamese melons, too - I think those were heirlooms and they were also just OK. And they were supposedly grown near Bakersfield. The one heirloom from Khazastan (Kazakh), a white fleshed melon, was excellent. Last few years in the fall, the stores started carrying a large football shaped melon with netting, I forgot what it was called. It was good, but not great, and the local store told me they only sold about half its inventory. reign - Concord grapes for watermelons sounds like a great deal to me. And if you make jam or jelly from a neighbor's pickings, that's outstanding. Nothing beats homemade. As for foliage reports, I have been through the Adirondacks, Shenandoah, and Colorado during fall leaf drop. It's truly beautiful and eerie knowing that after all those gold and red leaves fall, it'll be nothing but limbs and branches for another six months or so. Wayne 5 - Thanks for your reply. I am often in shock when someone says I hate cantloupes/melons. They will eat them in a fruit salad and if the flavor isn't too pronounced. I don't grow the Crenshaw/Sugarshaw varieties, but I do buy them when they're in season. They have a silky smooth texture bursting with juice. Alas, I have one melon that isn't doing too well again for the second year - Montreal Melon. It's turning yellow, and the growth has slowed and looks like early blight is taking hold. Our June Gloom with cloud cover till 1 PM and high humidity 72 degree days just aren't warm enough. The first Ambrosias are looking great and should be ready this week. It should be around 2-3 lbs, though they grow to 5. The charentais planted the same time as Montreal melon have lots of blossoms. The Yellow Doll hybrid watermelon is about softball size now. Butterscotch is now getting fruit (planted about 45 days ago).