Melons

A full-color, downloadable/printable PDF version of our Cantaloupe Melon Variety Comparison Chart.

Johnny's Farm Visit | Mark's Melon Patch – Dawson, Georgia. Mark Daniel started his melon business in his junior year of high school, growing 5 acres of watermelons on his family's row crop farm in southwestern Georgia. "It had never entered my mind that I was going to do this as a living," he says. "I was going to be an ag engineer. But when I started looking for jobs, the idea of working for somebody else just didn't interest me. So I've been doing this for 32 years now..."

A full-color, downloadable and printable PDF version of our melon variety (C. melo) comparison chart.

Learn the basics of successful melon growing, with information on diverse netted, or "winter" melon types, from the Johnny's melon research and trialing team. Includes information on melon seed-starting, transplanting melon, melon culture, important type- and variety-specific harvest indicators, as well as best storage conditions and shelf life of Charentais, canary, cantaloupe (muskmelon), Crenshaw, galia (tropical), honeydew, Piel de Sapo, and Asian melon types.

Johnny's R&D melon expert Steve Bellavia explains how to tell when your 'Lambkin' Piel de Sapo melon is nearing harvest readiness, plus a couple of harvesting options to suit your needs and preferences.

Johnny's melon expert, Steve Bellavia demonstrates how to tell when your Charentais-type French melons are ready to be harvested from the field.

Johnny's Research Technician Steve Bellavia shows how to tell when your Galia Tropical melons are perfectly ready for harvesting.

'Lilly' is a Crenshaw melon that is best harvested at the stage known as "forced-slip." 'Lilly' is characteristically much earlier than most other Crenshaw varieties. Melon expert Steve Bellavia, of Johnny's R&D, demonstrates how to easily tell when your 'Lilly' is ready for plucking, to ensure its distinctive sweet-spicy flavor is enjoyed at its peak.