Today I tied my melon vines to the trellis where I’m experimenting with keeping them out of the grass and weeds as well as away from Mama Opossum and Ricky Raccoon. This worked pretty well last year for the muskmelons but the water melons fell off due to their own weight. So, this year I’ve made a few modifications.
I made the trellises using cattle panels arched between two of my raised beds. (I’ll have a story to tell about the raised beds later.)
I’m training the water melons, crenshaws and cantaloupe to grow their vines up and over the arched trellises by tying their vines to the trellis. I placed bird netting over the cattle panels before training the vines to grow over so the fruit wouldn’t drop through the openings like it did last year. The netting, in concert with the trellis, provides a “grip” for the tendrils which also help to keep the vines growing where I want them to.
I’m very excited as all species are blooming profusly and my Sugar Baby Water Melons are setting on little melons galore.
I’ll try to get a photo of this to share with you.