jammer wrote:

.... My cantalope is up too.
Come on spring! ...


You're clearly not in New England. My fields are still not visible. Not
time to think about melons yet. (about mid-April for seeding them).

Melons like it really hot. One way to get a jump on the season is to
combine black plastic film to heat up the soil (clear plastic film heats
it up more, but allows weeds to grow underneath) combined with a slitted
clear plastic row cover. The clear plastic heats the air by about 10F
during the day while the slits keep it from getting over 110F (unless,
of course, the outside air temperature gets up there). The slitted
plastic only gives a couple degrees of frost protection at night,
however, so don't start things too early. In New England (and other
short season areas) that's the only way to get large watermelons before
Labor Day, when the market for them goes to zero. (Cantaloupes are
quicker). Take the slitted plastic off when the vines just start growing
out the slits, in order to (1) allow pollinating insects access to the
flowers and (2) save the slitted row cover for next year without tearing
it up trying to get the vines untangled from it.