Mouse Melons
(Page 2 of 3)
June/July 2005
By William Woys Weaver
How to Grow Them
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Growing mouse melons is no hassle at all. Simply start them indoors the same time you would begin seedlings for cucumbers, and plant them outdoors at exactly the same time. In fact, mouse melons are a little more cool-weather tolerant than most cucumbers, which is an added bonus should you get a late cold spell. I strongly advise creating a wire cage or trellis, because the vines will climb as high as 10 feet. Best of all, the plants will continue to fruit until the first frost, which means in my garden (Zone 7a), I’ll have a bountiful crop from July to mid-November. Having grown the melons for several years now, I also can attest that the plants are fairly drought-resistant, more so than cucumbers. And nothing — not even birds — has attacked the fruit. You also may discover that the plants reseed themselves freely, but letting them run over the ground is not the best way to cultivate them because this invites slug damage.
How to Save the Seed
If you want to save seed, choose the ripest fruits. More likely than not, these will be the little melons that have dropped to the ground — this seems to be a signal from the plant that they are ripe. Take the melons indoors and let them stand a week or two on a tray to further ripen. Then cut them open and scoop out the seeds. Put the seed mass in a jar of water, and let this ferment for at least five days (this kills any virus that might be on the seed). Once a thick layer of scum has formed and the best seeds have dropped to the bottom, remove the scum layer and rinse the remaining mixture in a strainer. Then spread the seeds to dry on a screen in a cool, well-ventilated room and let them remain there for at least two weeks. The seed is dry enough to store in an airtight jar when the individual seeds snap when broken. Properly stored, the seed should remain viable eight to 10 years. But who wants to wait that long to make another salad or batch of salsa?
Seed Sources
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
Ask for “Mexican sour gherkins”
(417) 924-8917
Seed Savers Exchange
Ask for “Mexican sour gherkins”
(563) 382-5990
Underwood Gardens
Ask for “cucamelons”
(815) 338-6279
Mouse Melon Salad
The best mouse melons for salads are the tender ones less than 1 inch in length that have not developed many seeds. You can tell whether they are tender by simply squeezing them. If they are an inch long and feel hard, they should not be used — better to save them for pickling.
