need help with raised beds!

aimeruni 5/14/2014, 3:54 pm

I'd like to grow melons in raised beds. I have both bush types and vining types.

I am wondering with trellising, how many bush type melons can be grown per 4' x 8' raised bed? How many vine types with trellising can be grown per raised bed?

Also my gardening season is very short (120 days), and the weather fluctuates greatly; I live in northern Michigan.

I've heard raised beds keep the soil warmer than just growing stuff in the ground. However, as my growing season is very short, should I put black mulch on the surface of the soil, or would this overheat the melon plants in the summer?

**AtlantaMarie** 5/14/2014, 4:47 pm

Hi Aimeruni. Welcome to the forum.

Can't give you any help. Sorry. This is my first year growing melons. But you'll get lots of good advice here!

**sanderson** 5/14/2014, 10:16 pm

With careful trellising, I can plant 1 vining cantaloupe or winter squash per square foot. My trellises for these are only two feet wide but are 8 feet tall. When they reach 8' there are other supports for them to grow horizontally. They can get really long.

I don't have any experience with bush melons. If they are anything like summer squash and zucchini, they should go in corners, or edges of the box, so they can fall over to the outside of the bed.

I'm probably not being very helpful.

**Turan** 5/15/2014, 12:16 am

I put black plastic over the raised beds for growing all squash and melons. Heat is not the problem. Cold air and hail is.

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