"Emerald Gem" Melon Mix

Cucumis melo

Emerald Gem was introduced in 1886 and bred in Benzie County, Michigan. Orange inner flesh with a green speckled and deeply lobed outer rind— stunning! It rivals the best French Charentais melons with its melt-in-your-mouth sweet and spicy aromatic flesh. A very productive melon that had the fastest, most vigorous growth of any melon we’ve trialed in cool weather— a major benefit to short season growers. This seed lot will have some of the genetics of our other melon varieties mixed in as we are using Emerald Gem to breed new varieties! You can expect 75% true to type Emerald Gems and 25% crosses with our other outstanding melon varieties— all carefully chosen, sweet, productive and delicious!

Growing Instructions:

Direct seed after last frost or start indoors in trays 3-4 weeks before last frost. Transplant out after last frost when melon plants when roots have developed enough to hold the soil around them when pulled out of the trays. Plant 18” apart in rows 5-6 feet apart.

Put a hearty helping of compost and a sprinkle of wood ash in each planting hole at time of transplant. A fall or spring leguminous cover crops would benefit the crop greatly as well.

Recommended soil pH between 6-6.8

Harvesting:

Melons are ready to harvest when they easily “slip” from the vine. You can also pick the melon up and smell them. Ripe melons with exude a deep, sweet, melon-y fragrance. Emerald Gem can also be harvested slightly early (no earlier than 5-7 days) and further ripen indoors outside of refrigeration.