Wild Melons and Corn OH My!!!

 

This is one 2023 experiment I am calling a success even though it hasn't produced anything yet. What we have here is last years Northern garden fence edge that I tilled last Winter and covered with hay to sit all Winter.The new tilled area became my Corn rows for this season and I made a hole in the fence and used the rest of the old fence as my melon trellis while also allowing the melons to grow through the fence and wind all around and under the corn rows.

The objective is to see what I get for one season overall with no weeding and the hopes were no watering but I finally had to violate that condition.

Of course there have been more than a few mistakes with this project but I am used to that.

First off I did not count on the mulch hampering the use of my seeder for the corn like it did. I also planted about four different varieties trying to find the one I was going to switch too for good. I had to fill in planting more than once due to my clumsy attempts at estimating depth but I did find a well growing red colored Dent corn that survived well and has already tasseled well.

Added bonuses have been it protects the melons well from the sun, that has been a real killer this year. 

The heat on the other hand has dried my blooms up something fierce. But everything is still alive just need some cooler weather to set fruit. The winding melons have also kept the chickens at bay once it got tall enough.

So next year I plan on continuing this experiment but with Bloody Dent Corn and Sugar Baby Melons only to see how that works. Under normal conditions those varieties seem to be showing the most promise as companion crops without the drought and dryness I think. 

I can attest that in this 95+ degree heat this time of year we been getting that without that Corn those melons would be dead by now. So far not much climbing on the corn stalks either and none that have been a problem. 

I have big plans for this type of planting in the future.

 

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!