Urban Gardening and Growing Melons

Reader Contribution by Rebecca Martin
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Successful urban gardening is a challenge for those of us who try to grow vegetables and fruits in small spaces. My own backyard is a case in point, being long, narrow and almost entirely shaded. Plenty of tomatoes and peppers have been grown in the narrow, sunny strip along the fence, but there’s precious little room otherwise for exploring new options. And growing melons? I thought it was out of the question — until this year.

Inspired by a co-worker who grew six butternut squashes in a tiny plot, I decided to punch through the urban-gardening barrier by using an overlooked rectangle of dirt tucked into the front yard. The 3-by-7-foot plot next to the front door looked like an inhospitable environment by any gardener’s standards. Backed by a wall and bordered by a concrete sidewalk, the soil was often dry and powdery. The sun shone on this small-space garden for only a few hours in the morning. Would anything grow in these inhospitable conditions? I was willing to risk a few seeds to find out.

In late May I planted the desert-like plot with one hill of ‘Kansas’ cantaloupe seed from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company. A couple shovelfuls of compost got dumped into the hill before planting, along with some straw mulch afterwards. A few feet away, a second hill got planted with a few ‘Moon and Stars’ watermelon seeds. Over the new few weeks, I watered the plot daily and waited to see what would happen with the hills.

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