When you think of your favorite winter holiday decorations, do you imagine glossy, pointy holly with bright red berries?I know I do. And if you’ve ever wondered if you could
06.06.2023 - 16:26 / gardenerspath.com / Laura Ojeda Melchor
How to Grow Cantaloupe in the Garden Cucumis melo var. reticulatusCantaloupe is like candy in melon form.
For some reason, watermelon gets all the summertime hype. Some of that needs to go straight to cantaloupe, which in my unpopular opinion, is much tastier than watermelon.
With a strange texture, slimy seeds, and an abundance of, well, wateriness, the watermelon just isn’t my type of fruit. Cantaloupe, though, is one of my favorites.
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A juicy American cantaloupe, that is, because I’ve never tried the European variety. There are differences, which we’ll talk about in a moment.
No melon can beat the sweet orange flesh of the cantaloupe. It’s intensely sweet, but healthy too, with robust levels of vitamins A and C, potassium, folate, and beta carotene.
Because I love cantaloupe so much, I decided to grow it here in Alaska. Seeing how this fruit thrives in balmy summertime climes, this is an audacious choice.
But I must have garden-grown cantaloupe.
Feel the same way? Read on!
Cultivation and HistoryThis delicious fruit belongs to the genus Cucumis and is a member of the Cucurbitaceae, or gourd family.
Pumpkins, squash, honeydew, and zucchini are also star members. Grown as a summer annual in USDA Hardiness Zones 4 to 10, the fruit develops on a trailing vine, which can trained up a trellis to save space.
Most varieties mature in 65 to 90 days and produce round fruits that weigh up to four pounds each.
Cantaloupe melons are a variety of the muskmelon, C. melo, and the name “cantaloupe” refers specifically to the North American variety C. melo var. reticulatus, and the European type, C. melo var. cantalupensis.
This
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