Growing Honey-Sweet Melons in a Zone 4 Greenhouse
I know there’s no accounting for taste, but allow me to share a few thoughts on it 😊 Many people write that tomatoes in our climate can’t develop their true varietal flavor. The weather doesn’t cooperate, and in some years we barely get any sun, even in summer.
And then there are melons, which absolutely need scorching outdoor sun to develop their flavor profile. Maybe it’s because we lived in Kyrgyzstan for a long time and got used to real watermelons and melons straight from the field, but I have zero desire to plant them in a greenhouse. They just won’t have any taste, in my opinion 😊 They’ll turn out bland and watery, especially for those who already complain about a lack of flavor in their greenhouse tomatoes. You can plant them just for fun—my sister suffers from this, she just really wants to see a watermelon vine growing in her greenhouse.
It’s not a problem to buy a delicious, authentic Uzbek melon anywhere right now. And it will be a real melon, not greenhouse grass. IMHO, no offense 😊
Shelkovnitsa said on Dec 15, 2021:
I know there’s no accounting for taste, but allow me to share a few thoughts on it… [quote truncated]
Nelli, you might be right about melons, but store-bought watermelons have gotten terrible lately–they aren’t sweet, they are pumped full of who-knows-what, and they upset your stomach. Keep in mind, when people grow melons here, they aren’t planting heirloom varieties, they are planting hybrids. They are specifically bred for short summers and short growing seasons. Same goes for the watermelons.
Shelkovnitsa said on Dec 15, 2021:
I know there’s no accounting for taste, but allow me to share a few thoughts on it… [quote truncated]
I have to disagree, homegrown melons are actually tastier and sweeter than store-bought ones. Plus, I’m not going to the market for a melon anyway because I spend the whole summer out at the dacha (country house), and the market is far away. I ate my homegrown ones with absolute pleasure. And the watermelons were sweet too. Sure, it was a hot summer this year, but even in the years I grew them before, they were always sweet.
Shelkovnitsa said on Dec 15, 2021:
I know there’s no accounting for taste, but allow me to share a few thoughts on it… [quote truncated]
Nelli, I’ve been growing melons for two years now, and our friends (who lived half their lives in Tashkent, Uzbekistan) were absolutely amazed that we could grow such honey-sweet melons up here. This year I treated them to Bravura, and last year I think it was Aikido. You should try growing them in your conditions! 😊
Shelkovnitsa said on Dec 15, 2021:
I know there’s no accounting for taste, but allow me to share a few thoughts on it… [quote truncated]
Nelli, I used to be a skeptic too. But I was wrong. Aromatic, honey-sweet melons and incredibly tasty watermelons absolutely will grow in a greenhouse. And they get to a great size, too. I think I let this Agness melon go a bit too long, so it split. I was going to throw it away, but decided to taste it first. Pure delight! Even though this little stinker sucked up some extra water (it was growing on the edge, and this greenhouse doesn’t have a foundation, it just sits right on the dirt).
Da4nitsa said on Dec 15, 2021:
This year I treated them to Bravura, and last year I think it was Aikido. You should try growing them in your conditions! 😊
I really loved Bravura too! It’s a Piel de Sapo type. I also grew Reymel from that same category. They are considered late-season varieties, but this summer they ripened up in August, and the taste was just lovely! I read that this specific type of melon is what they serve to foreign tourists overseas)) Snow-white flesh that tastes like ice cream 😋
But the pineapple-type melons were really finicky this summer. The aroma was insane, juices flowing everywhere, but the taste was a letdown; a bit mealy. I suspect they just got overripe in that heat wave. I should have harvested them the second they started showing streaks of color.
