Growing melons

Space individual plants 3 to 6 feet apart (3 feet for compact varieties). These space recommendations are for in-ground planting. In my EarthTainers, I crowd the plants and still get a good harvest.
I discovered last year that rabbits like melon leaves, so beware!
Before planting, add some general purpose fertilizer and compost to the soil.
Melons love warm weather! I have had the most success growing them in sub irrigated containers such as Earthbox or EarthTainer. That way, the roots are warm, the vines have plenty of water at all times, and you can place the container where it will receive the most sun.
Harvest: Canteloupe types will slip easily from the vine when ripe. With other melons, check the leaf nearest the fruit; when it begins to turn yellow, the fruit is ripe. For watermelons, they are ripe when the tendril nearest the fruit is dry and brown and the bottom side of the fruit is yellow. Harvest melons in the cool of the morning and immediately refrigerate. Melons do not ripen off the vine.
PLEASE NOTE: The plants on my farm table have NOT been hardened off. They are straight from the greenhouse.
You can do one of the following:
1. Expose them gradually to outdoor conditions over a week
-OR (as I do)-
2. Plant them immediately and give them protection from excess sun, wind, and rain for a week or two.

Kajari

70 days. Easy to grow, early and so productive. The flavor is world class. The perfect variety for most gardens, the best overall melon we carry! This amazing classic Indian melon was collected by Joseph Simcox. The fruit is a brilliant copper red and is striped in green and cream, making this an extremely unusual and beautiful melon. The pale green flesh is sweet, aromatic and slightly musky in taste. Joe believes that this melon originated in the Punjab, and he spent more than 8 years trying to find seeds of this extremely interesting variety. Vine produces lots of 2-lb fruit. Customer favorite! (Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds)

Review: Delicious, beautiful, prolific. These melons have become a staple in our garden. We describe them to people as tasting like a honeydew crossed with a cantaloupe, They're beautiful, and it's really easy to tell when they're ripe because they go from green to orange in literally one day. If you don't catch them in time, they'll fall off the vine and crack open if they were suspended from the ground at all. They are very sweet and have a sort of creamy texture. A perfect snack for two people to share (you're not looking to feed a party with one of these). We got lots of melons over the course of the summer, starting in early July and going until late August.

Mini Love Hybrid

Watermelon
Compact plant, delicious fruit
All-America Selections (AAS) Winner 2017

This award-winning hybrid is super compact, so instead of the usual sprawling vines, you get a compact 3-foot by 3-foot spread, healthy foliage and flowers, and up to half a dozen delicious fruit on every plant.

The secret is terrific disease resistance. Mini Love stands up to anthracnose, a scourge of many other watermelon varieties, and the fruit has a thin rind that is strong enough to resist cracking and splitting. Within, the flesh is juicy sweet, dark red, aromatic, and simply mouthwatering.

Mini Love sets about 4 to 6 striped green-on-green melons per plant. Each weighs between 7 and 9 pounds, with a shape that varies from oval to round. Saves space in the garden (or on the patio) with smaller, more manageable fruit. Mini Love is out to win you over. (Renee’s Garden)

Tasty Bites

Charantais/Ananas
70-80 days. Delightfully sweet with a tropical twist, these mini melons are just right for 2 servings. The hard-working plants offer high yields of one pound, pale yellow-skinned melons with deep orange flesh offset with a green outer ring. Developed from a Charantais/Ananas cross, bringing out the best in both! F1 hybrid variety. (Territorial Seed)
These melons have produced very well for me and are the most delicious sweet flavor! I will be planting ‘Tasty Bites’ every year.