The key to success is the number of days (the great majority of days) in excess of 80F but not in excess of 90F until the fruit has set. Several days with temps over 90F during blooom can cause flowers to drop without setting fruit. So if your current temps are averaging greater than 70F and rising, you can get plants in the garden now (or with protection if chilly) so that fruit has set before the hot summer. Here is my own link to muskmelons: http://www.harvestwizard.com/2009/03/how_to_grow_muskmelon_or_canta.html Here is a link that might be useful: HarvestToTable.com

I concur with what Dave has stated. In your zone, they would have plenty of time to develop ripe, beautiful fruit. I have had success by mounding my ÂhillsÂ, each planted with 3/4 seeds, and amending it with a lot or organic material (from my compost bin). They are hogs and love the extra nutrients. I also only water them in the evening to prevent powdery mildew (though it hasnÂt effected my fruit), and snip a few vines (in small increments) to promote fewer, but larger fruit. Just my opinion and what has worked for me. I am bummed, I turned my melon and pumpkin garden into ANOTHER dahlia/zinnia cutting bed : ). I will sure miss my fruit vines! Keriann~

I am growing Sweet n' Early Hybrid Cantaloupe. These things get ripe cantaloupes in under 60 days from seed! I just started some from seed about a month ago and they are already growing flowers, just about to open up its first blooms in a few days! I hear the fruit is small and very sweet. I would recommend these, along with planting some longer-to-bloom varieties, as the kids can tell the difference that not everything is the same, and it may be fun to watch them grow in-depth as they are eating cantaloupes already harvested from a different, earlier variety. Watch out, though, as some cantaloupe varieties don't have fertile flowers, and you will have to start more of a different variety from seed and have to wait even longer! lol Thants what happened to me. We were growing some Sierra Gold cantaloupe, and the plants were already growing their female flowers and everything, and then I find out that the plants have sterile male flowers! That was a heartbreaker! lol I had to rush to K-Mart and buy the earliest blooming variety of cantaloupe I could find, aka Sweet n' Early Hybrid, pull out some of the Sierra Gold cantaloupes, and plant the new seeds in the ground ASAP! So, now here I am today, around only a month since that happened. I could have had cantaloupes by now, I bet, but NOOO! The male flowers had to be sterile! lol I should have some cantaloupe to eat in less than two months, I would expect.

I have alkaline sandy soil. Musk melons and watermelons do well here. Lorna