Location Background: We are based on the Mendocino Coast in Northern Ca, where in the summer it rarely gets above 60 degrees and we receive lots of coastal fog. Temperatures year round are mild but cold, and farmers/gardeners struggle to grow warm weather crops. Greenhouses are needed for crops like tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and other crops like melons typically aren’t even considered.
One of the crops we are growing out are Melons (Cucumis Melo). We chose to focus on melons because our cooler climate can be limiting for the types of produce people can access locally, especially for fruits. Diversity of foods is something we are excited about offering the community, and if farmers here are able to grow high value crops such as melons, it would be a benefit to many farm businesses. In addition to adapting this warmer weather crop to our cooler climate, we are also adapting it to our no-till, low input system so that when the seed is grown out by other farms it won’t require too many resources-- ideally no greenhouse, no heat mats, and minimal inputs (we will just use a little bit of compost). Seeds were first sown on May 7th. We seeded 2 types of melons-- a variety called “farthest north” from Adaptive Seeds, and a coastal variety grown out by Julia Dakin. We wanted to make sure to work with the seeds Julia had already stewarded here and is in process of adapting to the cooler weather, but also wanted to incorporate some more diversity from another cooler climate seed that has very reliable and tasty fruits. We seeded enough for about 200 square feet. We seeded in flats but outside to select for the ones that are hardiest to our local temperatures. Germination was slow and sparse so we seeded again on May 30th. One of the biggest lessons so far was that seeding outside on May 7th (even in flats) is too early for this climate, since as of 6/13/24 only 3 of the farthest north variety and 7 of the coastal melons have come up from the first round of seeding. On the contrary, we are getting pretty quick and consistent germination from the ones that were just seeded in the more recent batch.
These photos are from the first seeding on 5/7/24
This photo is from the second seeding on 5/30/24 (the 3 flats in the front are all melons; pretty equal germination between the two varieties)
Today 6/14/24 I flatted one last flat of melons-- more of the coastal variety from Julia, and a little more of the farthest north variety from Adaptive Seeds but this one is called “Farthest North Galia”
On July 14th 2024 our melons were finally ready to go into the ground! They grew pretty slowly in the flats outside, the majority taking a month and a half to be transplantable size. The below photo was taken 2 weeks later on July 30th 2024. Growth is slow but steady and they are faring well for our no till, minimal input system.
As of 8/30/24 the melons are going strong. They are spreading slowly but surely and producing lots of flowers. We are beginning to see fruits forming. There is definitely a diverse genetic pool as you can see from the phenotypes being expressed- we are excited to try them and see which are worth saving. I am feeling confident that we will have lots of ripe melons by the end of the season.
