Very nice! Please post follow-ups as your garden progresses. I can't wait to see the melons....

Tom

will do....

where does the sun track in relation to that photo. Are your trellises aligned to catch the majority of the southern sun? How tall are those trellises?

The left end of the garden in the photo is pointing north/northwest.The sun tracks across the sky and crosses over the width,not the length.At least 6 to 8 hrs of direct sunlight will hit all areas.The trellises are 4 ft and 6 ft tall.I will attach a link showing the garden at 3pm - notice the shade line from the small tree in the photo.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Looks good to go but your melon vines will, ideally, like to stretch out to be about 8' long each. The flowers that develop on the lower couple feet of the vines are typically male with the female, fruit bearing flowers typically being towards the middle and end of the vine. If you end up trimming back the ends of the vines that out grow your trellises you may be trimming off parts of the "productive" ends.

Thanks for the info arjo...The introduction of watermelons into my plan was a last minute thing.I do plan on trimming them back to stay on the trellis that is only 4 foot high.If I only get a few melons because of this - it's ok with me.We are not big watermelon eaters.I wonder if the cantaloupe vines have the same characterisitic? They will only reach about 6 ft long.But-we love cantaloupes!Your input is appreciated.

every once in a while I swear that I've posted a reply and it doesn't show up when I look at it from work or whatnot... And I remember going into long detail about it to -- :poof: up in smoke I suppose. :shrug:

The height thing is relative to the total length of the plant. You'll probably see that your cantaloupes fruit a little better than the watermelons did. You see the same limiting kind of behavior if you trim back "determinate" species of tomatoes as well. The fruit producing blooms tend to be the ones further away from the roots than the blooms closest to them.

I'll see if I can drag up the pdf I found on cucurbits fruiting characteristics at home...

By trimming back, correct me if I am wrong, but wouldn't that make the fewer fruit bigger because it is not sharing nutrients with a lot of others?

if you're not giving it the nutrients it needs, when it needs them, then yes, it will...but only by way of comparison to several smaller fruits .vs. a few average-sized fruits.

Growing Cucumbers, Melons, Squash, Pumpkins and Gourds
B. Rosie Lerner & Michael N. Dana*

Cucurbits require low nitrogen and high potassium and phosphorous for good fruit development. Add a complete fertilizer such as 4-8-5 or 6-10-10 or similar analysis at a rate of 1 to 2 tablespoons per hill prior to planting. Nitrogen is readily leached from light, sandy soils. Ensure an adequate nitrogen supply by side-dressing with ammonium nitrate (33-0-0) or similar analysis at the rate of 1 tablespoon per hill 1 week after blossoming begins. Make a second application 3 weeks later.

Do not over fertilize with nitrogen as this encourages vine growth and retards fruiting.

Hi the raised bed and trellises look great, I just finished building the frames for my sister's raised bed garden and a raised bed for some very rare watermelons from Korea. I was looking for a good diagram showing a heavy duty trellis. Yours look very good, I would like to add a top to mine though. My melon bed is 12ft. X 4ft. X 8 inches high I plan to build a trellis out of steel post and cattle panels to a hight of 7ft with a top, so that the vines can grow on top also. Did you use 2x8s for your raised beds?
George W. Z5-6 Mo.

Hi George - the box is made from sawmill-cut cedar, that is a full 1" x 8".The 2x4's at the top of each trellis is what I intend to attach my slings to - for supporting the heavy items.This way,I can literally hang probably 100 lbs of produce items from each one.The wire mesh is very small,but will only be supporting the vines.And....thank you for the compliment on the design.As you can tell,it was not a copy from anyone else.I only looked at what other people were using,and tried to improve on their ideas.Some people think that i'm kinda weird -or different, and hardly post messages to my threads.I have obsessive compulsive personality disorder, which makes me a perfectionist- and everything has to be a certain way -with failure never being an option.( I have already planted my garden, and have redrawn it over 30 times,because it's still not perfect in my mind).If that gives you any idea what I go through with everything.But, feel free to ask any question - because I can build anything from a sandbox to a space shuttle.I have degrees in air conditioning/refrigeration,industrial electricity,industrial hydraulics,carpentry,and industrial maintenance.Hope everything works out.

Wow! Your name sure fits you then! ;-)

You did a TERRIFIC job! How are they working out for you? I hope the cedar is helping to keep the bugs away. How about giving us an update when you can? Thanks!

~Angela

Thanks, Angela. The garden is doing great. I try to keep updates in the sfg forum.

EG

That's hilarious! I just saw your post there yesterday. Your garden is looking terrific! I thought I'd post for others here that may want to find the updated thread, so the link is below. Thanks, EG!

~Angela

Here is a link that might be useful: EG's Updated Pics of Garden

Lovely!