May Veggie Gardening Tips Sacramento

May Veggie Gardening Tips in Folsom and Sacramento

Zone 9b Sacramento, CA – May is for Melons in Sacramento

May is for melons! Sacramento, CA is in Zone 9b, and around here May is the time to plant your watermelons, muskmelons, cantaloupes, and honeydew. Many people start their melons in starter pots a few weeks before it is time to plant them out in the garden, but you can also sow seeds directly in the ground.

Daytime temperatures should be in the 70s and nighttime temperatures should not be below 50 for melons to thrive.

Your pollinators are going to be the heavy hitters for your melons. If you don’t have enough friendly little bugs flying around, you can basically kiss your harvest goodbye. To make sure you are attracting enough pollinators, place your melons next to a butterfly bush, a flowerbed, or something else that bees love. If you planted artichokes in January like we recommended, now would be a great time to let some of those buds flower out and watch the bees come in!

With melons, you have a choice of how to let them grow. You can let them spread all over the ground and just embrace the fact that they are going to take over your entire garden. Or you can train them up on trellises. If you choose the trellis option, they will be less susceptible to disease and you will likely have a better harvest.

However, the melons are going to be far too heavy for the plants to bear if they are on a trellis. When the melons start to develop, make slings for them out of old tshirts, pantyhose, or anything else that will be both sturdy enough to hold them and stretchy enough to let the melons grow.