The post was about trying to get the plant started, but since the
subject was just tips, here's one for later in the season.

In late summer, when the weather becomes dry (assuming you're in one of
those climates) and you have immature fruit on the vine, you may have
damage from birds (mostly crows) looking for water. One way to prevent
this is to stretch monofilament fish line over the melon patch. I find
it sufficient to put the line about 3' high, in rows about 4-5' apart.
Use the fish line with a fluorescent blue cast. The birds can see that
there's something there but their eyes apparently aren't good enough to
make out what it is and they don't like to have anything over them. Fish
line is cheap (about $2-3 for 700 yards 8 lb test).

This also works when you have problems with birds (again, primarily
crows) pulling up small seedlings to eat the roots. It takes two lines,
straddling the row of seeds.