Search for my post on "starting melons early". This is how I did it last yr. The system I used last yr would likely work in the Imperial valley starting now but that area is much warmer than most of CA. More importantly, it is sunnier, and sunshine is what you need to warm the soil. Any system that relies on sunshine will have the potential to overheat. But melons will stand a lot of heat. I've never seen any evidence of overheating damage. I started mine about March 1 last yr, about 6wks before ave last frost. If you get lots of sun, you could get them up and growing starting now. But at some point you will need to remove the poly. At that time the ambient temps are going to need to be warm enough to sustain growth, 80/50F is about minimum. My early planted hill (of a late variety) last yr had melons from early June until Sept. And would have lasted longer but we had a month of rain nearly every day. The hill ended up 40ft in diameter. I haven't thought too much about what I'll do this yr. Probably will start them about April 1, which would likely be a better time for you also. The Fruitnut

(Apologies for the length of this and the fact it's off-topic) Bahia, Here's what the Annie's sign says: "Well, weve figured out how to propagate it, but its REALLY IFFY, takes a REALLY LONG TIME, & we only get a few!" For some reason I had assumed they meant propagation by cuttings--maybe not? But if seed packets are $3 with 10-20 seeds per packet (I don't know if that's the case) then than roughly 5% germination brings the seed price per seedling to closer to $5 maybe (neglecting those insignificant things such as labor...). Annie's says the plants were $50 last time they were offered, so perhaps 5% germination could make sense? The whole story behind germination actually sounds quite fascinating and has to do with ants. Here's a long description: http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Seed "Myrmecochory is the dispersal of seeds by ants. Foraging ants disperse seeds which have appendages called elaiosomes (e.g. bloodroot, trilliums, Acacias, and many species of Proteaceae). Elaiosomes are soft, fleshy structures that contain nutrients for animals that eat them. The ants carry such seeds back to their nest, where the elaiosomes are eaten. The remainder of the seed, which is hard and inedible to the ants, then germinates either within the nest or at a removal site where the seed has been discarded by the ants. This dispersal relationship is an example of mutualism, since the plants depend upon the ants to disperse seeds, while the ants depend upon the plants seeds for food. As a result, a drop in numbers of one partner can reduce success of the other. In South Africa, the Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) has invaded and displaced native species of ants. Unlike the native ant species, Argentine ants do not collect the seeds of Mimetes cucullatus or eat the elaiosomes. In areas where these ants have invaded, the numbers of Mimetes seedlings have dropped." From what I understand the removal of the elaiosome increases the germination rate, and it's not clear to me whether there's a way to mimic it. Plantzafrica mentions that suprisingly smoke treatment does nothing. Actually Silverhill did have a different Mimetes species, M. hirtus, a couple months ago. Unfortunately I saw it described by Plantzafrica as a marsh plant which didn't seem too practical. However they did seem to like it: http://www.plantzafrica.com/frames/plantsfram.htm "Sima Eliovson, author of Proteas for pleasure, referred to Mimetes hirtus as 'the most magnificent species of Mimetes, the most spectacular genus of the protea family'. Nevertheless, the future of the species is uncertain as it is also one of the most geographically restricted mimetes, growing only in boggy areas mainly at low altitudes. As a consequence of the latter, it is often out-competed for its preferred habitat by housing developments. Fortunately it is one of the less troublesome to grow in cultivation-an aspect that may aid its chance of survival as a species." They also add: "M. hirtus is a relatively short-lived member of the protea family. It grows rapidly as a result, and may start flowering after only two years of growth. Plants reach their peak by ten years of age and die shortly thereafter, at a maximum age of about fifteen years." Two years is pretty fast for a protea. Again, sorry for the length and for going off topic.

Thanks Jen Rick

Shelley, Simply trellis your rattlesnake beans alongside the fence and grown them wherever you want. I grow beans on my woven wire fences all the time with little space between them and the shorter plants growing in the ground alongside them. You'll be amazed how happily other, shorter plants grow with trellised beans (and cucumbers, icebox melons, muskmelons, winter squash, gourds, etc.) growing right beside them or behind them. I trellis everything that is remotely vining in nature. Your dwarf tomato plants from The Dwarf Project ought to coexist peacefully with trellised beans growing on the fence behind them. The Dwarf Project tomato plants only get 2.5 to 4' tall, more or less, and are stocky and sturdy and won't mind having trellised beans (or anything else) growing behind them. Obviously taller indeterminate tomato varieties wouldn't be as tolerant of beans growing on the fence behind them. Scout your beds regularly because the bean plants will want to climb onto the tomato plants and cages to grow. When the vining plants do that, I just remove them from whatever cage or plant they're trying to latch onto and work that errant grown back through its trellis. Then I lecture it about not trying to take over the world. Luckily pole beans climb fast, so your bean plants should grow fast enough that the dwarf tomato plants cannot shade them out while they are small, and once the dwarf tomato plants are tall enough and wide enough that they might shade them out, the beans will be growing taller than the tomato plants. You also can grow Ha'ogen on a trellis. In the beginning, when I first trellised cantaloupes and muskmelons, I used knee-high stockings tied to the trellises to serve as slings or supports to hold the melons. I was afraid the weight of the melons would pull down the vines or that the weight would cause the melons to fall off the vines prematurely. I did that every year with great results, and then in one bad fire year, I didn't have time to tend the garden, and the melons grew fine without any sort of sling or support to keep the vine or fruit from falling off the trellis. Because I mulch heavily, I don't even worry about the muskmelons falling off the vines when they are mature. Usually, I can see and smell them and know when they are maturing and just pull them when they are forming the abscission layer and preparing to fall, but even if I miss one and it falls to the ground, it lands on that nice cushy 4-6" layer of mulch and doesn't crack. Once I knew the stocking slings or supports weren't necessary, I stopped wasting my time. To some extent you can control how your beans, squash and melons interact by planting the beans first and then waiting another month or six weeks before your plant the squash and melons. That gives the beans time to grow and gain some height before you plant the melons and squash. In my garden, all the trellised plants that are growing close together tend to run all together into one big massive wall of green, and I don't mind it at all. They still produce loads more than we can eat fresh, leaving plenty to be preserved for future meals. Sometimes it is fun to watch them slug it out to see who wins. (In my garden, so far, Seminole pumpkin outgrows and outlasts everything else, so it is the queen of my garden.) Don't be afraid to try trellising one plant behind another. You never will know what will work for you, in your soil and growing condtions and with your set-up, until you try it. Some of my most favorite growing methods and plant combinations were nothing but experiments the first time I tried them. One year my beloved pink eye purple hull southern peas decided they wanted to be tomatoes. They outgrew their bed, reached across the 2' -wide garden pathway, and climbed the tomato cages all the way to the top....then cascaded back down again. Was it a problem? Well, it was a problem as far as using the pathway was concerned, but it wasn't a problem in terms of growth and production. We had huge yields of tomatoes and huge yields of PEPH peas. You would have thought the tomatoes wouldn't have liked having pea vines climbing all over their cages and partially shading them, but they didn't seem to mind at all. Since sunscald sometimes is a problem on tomatoes in the hottest part of the summer, maybe I should routinely add one PEPH plant to each tomato cage. (grin) I now grow all the southern peas in the back garden since it has sandier soil, and I don't grow a lot of tomatoes back there, but in the year they shared those tomato cages, it wasn't a problem. Clearly, it isn't a planting combination I ever would have thought of or planted on my own. I like little garden surprises like that, although they don't always end well. It is just that this particular garden combination worked. If you're already running out of space with your 2' wide beds, are we going to see 3' wide or 4' wide beds next year? Lawn grass? Who needs a lawn? Dawn