Ice Cream Melon Mix
80 days to maturity
30 seeds per packet
80 days to maturity
30 seeds per packet
80 days to maturity
30 seeds per packet
Cucumis melo
Two-toned beauty that is sweet as can be! Seeking a cooler weather melon, seed breeder Merlyn Niedens bred Ice Cream Melon in northern Illinois from a cross between the 1840 green fleshed heirloom “Jenny Lind” and vibrantly orange fleshed and large fruited “Kansas” melon. Ice Cream Melon is also named “Green Machine”, describing its prolific yield of two pound fruits.
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.
