Melon Cantaloupe Di Charentais
Melon Cantaloupe Di Charentais. An Heirloom French variety, suited to the cooler UK climate producing round, 2lb medium-sized fruit with slight ridges and a silvery grey skin with a mouthwatering sweet yellowish orange flesh with an intense aroma. This variety is thin skinned and damages easily in transit, so it is not a variety found in stores. It is known as a “true” cantaloupe, as the varieties stocked in shops are usually musk melons.
Cultivation advice Melon Cantaloupe Di Charentais
- Sow April to May in pots of moist seed compost and cover with a 1cm (½inch) layer of compost or vermiculite. Ensure temperature is maintained at around 20C to aid germination. Keep the surface of the compost moist but not waterlogged; germination will usually take 7-10 days.
- When at the 2 leaf stage, transplant seedlings on into at least 10cm (4 inch) pots for a few weeks before potting on into larger containers or direct into the greenhouse border, or use 2 plants per growbag.
- Provide support for the plants to climb.
- Pinch out the tip of growth after 4 true leaves are produced, then train 4 lateral branches to the 6 leaf stage before again pinching out.
- Pollinate if necessary, by transferring pollen from the male flowers to the female blooms (with bump beneath the bloom).
