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Why Melons, Pumpkins and Squash Are Such Thirsty Customers

Every member of the cucurbit family — melons, pumpkins, marrows, courgettes and winter squash — is built for rapid, sprawling growth. In the space of a few weeks a single plant can throw out metres of trailing stem, unfurl dinner-plate leaves and swell a fruit the size of a football. That kind of performance needs water, and plenty of it. In a British garden, where our summers are warm rather than reliably hot, the trick is not simply to water often but to water deeply and consistently, so the roots go looking for moisture rather than sitting in a permanently damp crust.

Melons are the fussiest of the trio. Give them the sunniest spot you have — a greenhouse, a polytunnel, or a sheltered south-facing wall — and they will repay you handsomely. Outdoors in most of the UK they sulk unless the summer is exceptional, so treat open-ground growing as a gamble and under-cover growing as the sensible option.

A melon plant in full growth will drink several litres a week, and during a proper heatwave that can easily double. Aim for a good soaking every two or three days in normal weather, and daily during hot spells. Push your finger two or three centimetres into the soil: if it feels dry at that depth, water. Do it in the morning where you can, so the foliage dries before evening and you avoid the mildew problems that plague cucurbits in humid British conditions.

Mulch: The Cheapest Insurance Against Drought

If you take one piece of advice from this article, make it this. A generous mulch does more for thirsty cucurbits than any other single job in the summer garden. It slows evaporation from the soil surface, keeps the root zone several degrees cooler, suppresses weeds that would otherwise compete for every drop, and slowly feeds the soil as it breaks down.

• Grass clippings — spread thinly in layers and let each one dry before adding more, otherwise it turns into a slimy mat.
• Straw or hay — excellent under trailing fruit, and it keeps pumpkins clean and off damp ground.
• Well-rotted compost or leafmould — a five to eight centimetre layer works beautifully and doubles as a feed.
• Bark chips or shredded prunings — slower to break down, so ideal for the whole season.

Whatever you use, lay it five to eight centimetres deep and keep it clear of the stems, leaving a small collar of bare soil around each plant. Damp mulch pressed against a stem is a recipe for collar rot, and a collapsed stem in July is a season ended early.

Feeding, Training and Pollination

Consistent moisture and steady feeding go hand in hand. Once the first flowers open, switch to a high-potash liquid feed — a tomato feed is ideal — every ten to fourteen days, watering the soil rather than the leaves. Too much nitrogen and you will get a magnificent leafy plant with no fruit at all.

Training saves space and improves ripening. Pinch out the growing tip of each main stem once it has produced two or three fruits, and remove side shoots beyond the fruit. Raise ripening pumpkins and squash onto a tile, a slate or a piece of board to lift them off wet soil, and cut away any leaves shading the fruit so the sun can do its work.

Pollination is where British summers can let you down. Bees are sluggish on cool, damp mornings, and melon flowers only open for a day. If fruits are swelling to marble size and then yellowing and dropping, pollinate by hand: pick a male flower, peel back the petals and dab the pollen onto the centre of a female flower, which you will recognise by the tiny fruit swelling behind the bloom. Do this mid-morning on a dry day.

Harvesting Melons at Their Sweetest

Melons tell you when they are ready, if you know what to listen for. The colour shifts from green to cream, gold or orange depending on variety; a sweet scent develops at the blossom end; and the fruit slips from the vine with the gentlest pressure of a thumb. That slip is the surest sign of all for cantaloupe types. Honeydew and galia types usually need cutting with a short stalk, as they ripen without slipping. The tendril nearest the fruit turning brown and crisp is another reliable clue. Once picked, a ripe melon will keep for a few days in the fridge but will not improve — so eat it soon.

Harvesting Pumpkins and Winter Squash

These are far more forgiving. Leave them on the plant for as long as you dare, right through to late September and into October, and only cut them when the skin has hardened enough that a fingernail will not mark it. The stalk should be corky and cracked, and the fruit should sound hollow when tapped. Cut with five to ten centimetres of stalk attached — never lift by the stalk alone, as a broken handle is an open door for rot.

Cure them somewhere warm, dry and sunny for a week or two, turning occasionally, then store in a cool, frost-free room at around ten to fifteen degrees Celsius. Kept like this, a well-ripened Crown Prince or Hunter squash will still be good in February.

From Plot to Plate

Ripe melon needs almost nothing doing to it: chill it, slice it, and serve with air-dried ham, feta and mint, or blitz it into a chilled soup with a squeeze of lime. Pumpkin and squash are far more versatile. Roast chunks in a hot oven with olive oil, garlic and thyme until the edges caramelise, then fold through pasta or a grain salad. Purée the flesh for soups and risotto, or stir it into a curry with ginger and coconut. Don't discard the seeds — rinse them, toss with oil and salt, and roast for ten minutes until crisp. Courgettes and marrows, picked young and small, are just as welcome sliced, griddled and dressed with lemon, and any glut can be grated and frozen for winter baking. A well-watered, well-mulched plant gives you plenty to work with.