7 Tips for Growing Melons in Raised Beds

Raised beds offer superb drainage, warmer soil, and easy training for your melon crop. If you choose the right variety and amend your beds properly, the quick-growing vines thrive with little maintenance and yield in abundance.

However, gourd family fruits sometimes attract beetles, aphids, and mites; they’re also susceptible to a few diseases. Create healthy environments for them so they’ll better resist infections or infestations. With a little preemptive care, your vines will grant you loads of fruit come autumn.

These seven tips will have you growing prize-winning melons in your raised beds. Skip melons at the grocery store and start your own—you won’t regret it!

Pick Disease-Resistant Varieties

Most of our vegetable crops are domesticated versions of wild plants. Although they sprout tasty fruits, they’re often highly susceptible to pests and diseases. Plant breeders have since caught on to disease resistance and offer strong, resilient varieties. Choose any of these and you’ll have less disease mitigation to do during your growing season.

Nowadays, plant breeding has led to new, hybrid melon varieties. Whereas we used to grow muskmelons or late melons, we now have access to crosses between these two. There are dwarf quick-growing varieties perfect for raised beds in gardens throughout North America. 

What about watermelons? Those plants are in a separate genus. Musk and honeydew varieties are Cucumis melo, while watermelons are Citrullus lanatus. They need slightly different conditions than each other; we’ll cover muskmelons, late melons, and their hybrids here.

Disease Resistant Melon Varieties

The two main types of melons are muskmelons and late melons; they include further categorizations that show flavor, flesh color, and rind appearance. Muskmelons are cantaloupes with ribbed or netted skin. They have orange-yellow flesh inside with lots of fragrance. Their smell is why we call them muskmelons—they often give off a sweet musk when ready for harvesting.

Late melons include most other types like honeydew, casaba, and canary. They’re also specialty ones like Piel de Sapo, or “toad skin,” and pineapple melons. They need long growing seasons with low humidity, performing best in garden zones with long, hot summers. 

Do you like the flavor of honeydew but the texture of cantaloupe? Hybrid melons, or specialty melons, are plant crosses between late and musk varieties. Try ‘Crenshaw’ or ‘Twice as Nice’ for unique flavors and rinds. 

Give Crops Heat and Direct Sunlight

Melons need lots of warmth to ripen their fruits properly, and metal or cedar raised beds can help add this early season heat. Heat helps the vines pump sugar into the fruits, so the more heat they receive the sweeter your fruit will be. Because of this, melons are perfect for areas with long, warm summers.

Grant your plants direct sunlight for six to eight hours a day. Shady areas lead to powdery mildew and pest infestations—keep bad bugs at bay by putting your vines in a sunny spot. 

Do you garden with a short summer? There are quick-ripening varieties for your zone. ‘Minnesota Midget’ is one of them, ripening in 60-70 days instead of 90 like most others. You’ll want to plant varieties like this if your growing season is less than four months.

Use Well-Draining, Rich Soil

Cucurbits need humus-rich soil with excellent aeration. Compact, clay or sandy, free-draining soils aren’t ideal for growing these fruits. Amend raised beds’ soils a month before planting and your melons will thrive. 

Use compost or organic mulch, mixing it into the beds’ existing soil. Apply a thick layer of the mulch on top, and let the site sit until you’re ready to plant.

If you need to plant soon and don’t have a month to wait, use a combination of organic fertilizer and mulch to jump-start soil building. Combine a regular dose of fertilizer with enough compost to spread over your raised beds. Place a two-inch thick layer over the soil and water well. Plant transplants or seeds directly into the compost, and watch as your plants take off. 

Adding compost inoculates your soils with microorganisms that eat nutrients; they turn big molecules into smaller ones that plants can readily suck up through their roots. Continue piling compost over the growing season as it thins out, and your crop will have a steady supply of nutrients.

New raised beds have fresh soil—they won’t need amending. Amend existing soils if they’re not well-draining and organically rich to start with. 

Start Seeds at the Right Time

These vines need many long days for proper ripening; start them too late, and frost or rain will kill them before you harvest any fruit. Gardeners with cool or short summers can use a few tricks to cheat the seasons—grow this crop from USDA garden zones 4 through 11. 

Starting Indoors

I recommend starting seeds indoors for growers in zones 7 and colder. Start them two to four weeks before transplanting, and aim to transplant about two weeks after your last average frost date. This ensures plants are mature enough to endure transplanting shock. Put them under a bright window while they’re inside, or use a grow light with a timer for twelve hours a day.

Melon roots are extremely sensitive. Try using biodegradable pots instead of plastic ones. The pots degrade and let your plants’ roots extend out without you ever disturbing them. Situate transplants in an area with southern sunlight exposure—these garden sections are warmest because they receive the most direct light.

If nights are still cold two weeks after your last frost date, try using a row cover! Drape UV-resistant greenhouse plastic over metal U-frames in your raised beds. Open up the cover during the day and close it at night.

Sowing Outdoors

Directly sow seeds two weeks after your last average frost date in growing zones eight and above. This is the ideal way to plant cucurbits, as their roots never undergo transplant shock. Water the site well, and watch as seeds sprout into seedlings. Young plants need more moisture than adults—aim for the soil to be moist but not soggy.

Create Rows or Hills

There are two ways for planting this crop—using rows or hills. Both styles lead to bulbous, ripe fruits. The right method for you depends on how you grow vegetables. Rows are better for organized, planned-out, raised bed gardens. Hills fit in between other plants, making this option better for wild-style gardens. 

To make rows, dig lines three feet wide and as long as you wish. Space other rows three to four feet away. Plant seeds in the rows, then cover them with soil. They’ll sprout in a week or two—then, thin seedlings to one plant per foot. 

If using hills, mound the raised bed soil to make three-foot-long piles. Space other hills at least three to four feet away. Plant four or five seeds per hill, and thin them when they sprout so two plants remain. Optionally, consider trellising your melons upward with a fence post trellis affixed to the sides of the raised bed.

What Are Furrows?

Whether you use hills or rows, you’ll want to make furrows. Furrows are trenches near your seeds that allow water and nutrients to reach melon roots directly. They’ll make watering your beds an easy task.

For hills, dig a furrow around the hill. For rows, dig trenches directly next to the lines. Water your vines by filling furrows every so often. This keeps the foliage from getting wet, which keeps disease risk down. You’ll want to water when the soil dries; irrigate about once or twice a week during summer and more often during heat waves. 

Fertilize Regularly

Furrows make fertilizing easy too! You can feed your plants directly by putting fertilizer in the furrows. For muskmelons and late melons, use a balanced organic vegetable fertilizer. Melons are voracious—give them a regular dose of fertilizer every six weeks. 

Any type works well, whether powder, liquid, or organic pellets. Avoid overwhelming plants with nutrients by watering them after applying any type. Watch for powder fertilizer, as it can dust up onto plant leaves and burn them. Rinse off any leaves if you see residue on them.

Harvest Ripe Melons

Muskmelons and late melons ripen differently. Muskmelons naturally slip off their stems when ripe. They also omit a musky sweetness, as their name suggests. Pick muskmelons by lifting and twisting them. If they don’t twist off, they’re not ready. Wait a few days before trying this method again.

Late melons are a bit different. They do not slip off the vine when ripe and will hold on for dear life. You’ll know the fruits are ready when the part of the melon sitting on the ground turns from yellow to white. Melons also soften where the blossom’s end used to be. Feel them up to determine how ripe they are. If they’re ripe, snip them off above the stems.