This Honeydew Melon is Well Worth Growing

While I fully intend to do a season-end review of the different vegetables I’ve grown, I just can’t wait that long to tell you about the most amazing honeydew melon!

The cultivar name is ‘Ha Ogen’ and I purchased the seeds from Botanical Interests. In the past, I’ve grown a lovely honeydew melon that’s called ‘Arava’, and it came from Seeds of Change.

This was our first year of growing ‘Ha Ogen’ and we harvested the first ripe one a few days ago. The flavor is absolutely out of this world! The fruit was a little over 1 1/2 pounds, in case you’re curious, although some are larger.

My usual routine for growing melons is to start the seeds around May 1st and transplant the seedlings out in the garden about 10 days later. Before planting them, I place a layer of solar mulch on the surface of the bed (the drip irrigation system is underneath the mulch, on top of the soil). In order to plant each seedling, I cut an “X” into the mulch first.

Once they’re all planted, I put hoops over the bed and place a layer of floating row cover onto them, with the edges weighted down so the wind won’t blow it away. This creates a mini greenhouse, which is just the kind of pampering they need.

I remove the row cover once the plants start blooming and away they go! I believe I planted about 10 ‘Ha Ogen’ seedlings in one of my 3’x8′ raised beds and ended up with around 15 melons. The plants require 80-90 days to reach maturity, whereas ‘Arava’ matures in 70 days.

The ‘Ha Ogen’ honeydew is DEFINITELY going to be on my planting list for next spring!