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Post by lynnee on Dec 30, 2022 9:57:44 GMT -5
My next Farm project will be the Territorial Seeds Minnesota Midget Cantaloupe! The seeds are on order, and there will be photos once they are planted. The catalog says that these "are ideal for small space or container gardens".   Edited to correct error: Territorial Seeds, not Burpee Seeds. |
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Post by scarfguy on Dec 30, 2022 11:24:08 GMT -5
Yeah! You and I are thinking alike! I just ordered seeds too.
My cukes are almost finished. When done, I'm going to plant the melons and wrap the vines around the netting like I did with the cukes.
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Post by lynnee on Dec 30, 2022 11:28:39 GMT -5
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Post by scarfguy on Dec 30, 2022 13:42:50 GMT -5
Oh, the same ones you bought. Minnesota Midgets.
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Post by lynnee on Dec 30, 2022 16:01:15 GMT -5
Oh, the same ones you bought. Minnesota Midgets. All right! I was hoping that someone else would want to try these! Even better that you beat me to it!  |
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Post by lynnee on Jan 1, 2023 18:39:30 GMT -5
The Minnesota Midgets are planted! They're in one of my Farm 12XL gardens. Now I have to build netting to support the vines. The plan is to develop two producing plants. I started with 2 seeds in each of two pods. I have plenty of seeds--if you want a few, just PM me with your address.    |
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Post by scarfguy on Jan 1, 2023 21:34:43 GMT -5
Ohhhh, I'm so excited! I love melons!
Hopefully, you'll soon need some of these:
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Post by lynnee on Jan 1, 2023 21:47:09 GMT -5
Ohhhh, I'm so excited! I love melons!
Hopefully, you'll soon need some of these: We can dream! |
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Shawn
Administrator
Posts: 16,267 
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Post by Shawn on Jan 2, 2023 6:44:17 GMT -5
I am following
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Post by scarfguy on Jan 2, 2023 9:17:08 GMT -5
Check out this blog post:
It doesn't directly apply but it's an interesting read. Of note is the way he tied up the side shoots and the comment that most of the fruit grows from the side shoots.
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Post by lynnee on Jan 5, 2023 10:54:34 GMT -5
The Midgets have sprouted! Photos to come soon. Thank you for that great blog post link, scarfguy! |
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Post by scarfguy on Jan 5, 2023 11:06:56 GMT -5
You go girl! 
Can't wait to see what it looks like! The leaves should be huge!
I'm not going to try mine until spring.
I've got a new plan for handling large vines but it has to go in front of the heat register so I have to wait until I don't need the furnace. I'll post pics when I set it up.
I've got a few more cukes going to ripen before it is exhausted.
Instead of the melon, I'm going to start a "window box roma" tomato in the cuke setup.
following...
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Post by lynnee on Jan 5, 2023 11:48:16 GMT -5
Day 2 (1/4/23)  |
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Post by lynnee on Jan 5, 2023 13:28:49 GMT -5
scarfguy , the blog post mentioned pollination of cantaloupes, which I'd forgotten about. Here is a nice article on how to pollinate cantaloupes. If you scroll down, there are photos of the female, male, and complete flowers. 
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Post by scarfguy on Jan 5, 2023 13:51:55 GMT -5
Yes, I was gonna remind you of that. Since my cucumbers have all been parthenocarpic, I haven't had the opportunity to learn hands-on pollination. Thanks!
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Shawn
Administrator
Posts: 16,267
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Post by Shawn on Jan 7, 2023 8:44:14 GMT -5
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Post by lynnee on Jan 13, 2023 0:50:08 GMT -5
Day 10. Now we are three! There were two healthy seedlings in the front pod, so I moved one to another pod. So far it looks like both will survive--fingers crossed. The seedling in back has always been more robust than the others.  |
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Post by lynnee on Feb 20, 2023 18:18:20 GMT -5
The cantaloupe vines were doing well, but I had to end the garden early due to illness. I'll try these again when I have more time to spend on AGs. Vining plants require regular attention, so that the vines can be tied up or trained to go around and around a trellis.
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Post by scarfguy on Feb 23, 2023 18:14:22 GMT -5
My Minnesota Midget progress:
I have about 4 vines that have reached the nylon trellis. They seem to like it and are wrapping around it happily.
Does anybody have a feeling for how many vines the plant will support? I'm going to have to start pruning away extra suckers pretty soon. I'm thinking that maybe 4-6 mature vines would be all it can handle. That should be enough to produce a couple of melons if I'm lucky.
All flowers so far are male. From what I've read, the female flowers are a bit bigger than the males and have the distinctive swollen stem. But I've got my pollinating fingers polished and ready to go when I see some females!
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Post by lynnee on Feb 23, 2023 21:11:04 GMT -5
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