Post by philip on Jun 4, 2015 14:57:35 GMT -5
I am trying to breed melons for outdoor growing in central brittany, france. Some people, when they hear france, may think it's easy to grow melons in france. It is in other parts of the country but not where i live. Brittany due to being a peninsula has many microclimates and the area north of carhaix-plouguer has cool summer temperatures. August ist our hottest month with an average temperature of 17.4 degree celsius (63.3 fahrenheit). Lots of rain and many cloud-covered days like in Ireland and parts of the UK. I started last year with 4 melon and 3 watermelon varieties that i grew in my polytunnel because i didn't have a lot of seed and i wanted them to cross. I also planted 2 Blenheim Orange melons outside to test things out.
They grew, flowered and made fruit. But the melons tasted like cucumber with a hint of melon flavour. No sweetness or juiciness. Nearly all of the tunnel-grown ones were very good and i managed to harvest watermelons and more importantly their seed. All was left to cross freely.
This year i am growing most melons outside on black plastic. 8 melon varieties and 6 watermelon ones.
Varieties are: Blenheim orange, ananas from Russia, a melon from Kazakhstan, petit gris de rennes, minnesota midget, irina's suesse, lunéville and the farthest north melon mix (thanks Søren)
Watermelons: Olga's beauty, blacktail mountain, cream of katchvestan, siberian sweet, early moonbeam and early canada.
I want to establish a landrace that manages to produce tasty melons outdoors even in bad years.
Long-term goal is growing them without black plastic and possibly even direct seeding.
So i am excited to see how they will fare this year. This year farthest north mix is the first to start flowering.
As far as the watermelons are concerned i am probably pushing things too far but we'll see.
They grew, flowered and made fruit. But the melons tasted like cucumber with a hint of melon flavour. No sweetness or juiciness. Nearly all of the tunnel-grown ones were very good and i managed to harvest watermelons and more importantly their seed. All was left to cross freely.
This year i am growing most melons outside on black plastic. 8 melon varieties and 6 watermelon ones.
Varieties are: Blenheim orange, ananas from Russia, a melon from Kazakhstan, petit gris de rennes, minnesota midget, irina's suesse, lunéville and the farthest north melon mix (thanks Søren)
Watermelons: Olga's beauty, blacktail mountain, cream of katchvestan, siberian sweet, early moonbeam and early canada.
I want to establish a landrace that manages to produce tasty melons outdoors even in bad years.
Long-term goal is growing them without black plastic and possibly even direct seeding.
So i am excited to see how they will fare this year. This year farthest north mix is the first to start flowering.
As far as the watermelons are concerned i am probably pushing things too far but we'll see.
