Hi northerner on., I also have a short and cool growing season and typically need to give melons every bit of boost I can give them. I start seeds early to mid april(depending on weather trends).They are grown under grow lights in my heated basement in a room kept to about 25Celcius. After germination sometimes depending on variety as soon as 4 days I transplant the strongest growing ones into 4 inch pots where they grow while I prep the garden plot. I have a tractor with a tiller(actually 2 tractors with tillers:) and some chickens and neighbors with cattle and horses so no shortage there. Lots of junk gets tossed in then tilled a few times then hilled up and some sort of ground cover be it garbage bags or weed barrier is layed down on the hill and held in place with soil. A mini green house is then placed over the hill to hasten warming of the soil(see photo). I usually wait till night time temps don't fall below 10C before planting out, I am sure I could put them out sooner but I am not that much of a risk taker to lose my melons. Usually by mid May I feel it is safe enough to plant out. I keep an eye on the forecast and if it is going to be over 18C for the daily high I will open the ends of the green house to allow air movement so it does get too hot, and then close them back up when I get home from work to build more heat for the night. Male blossoms appear first then female a few days to 2 weeks later sometimes longer. I normally see the first fruits abort then the later ones hook on and grow rapidly then sit there for a month or two ripening. When I first started growing melons I could never get a ripe water melon only cantaloupes and honey dews . After I got the ground cover and mini green house thing going I have had good success year after year. This year was an exceptionally late start our last big freeze was May 29 with everything safe under plastic. I did not remove the plastic until the very end of June because it was so cold this year yet looks like we have a bumper crop of melons again this year. I will take a few photos and post tomorrow Glenn

I planted some tomatoes (Bush Big Boy Hybrid) February 1st and they are now 7" tall. I don't use the fancy grow lights, I have a 60 watt regular incandesent bulb next to a south facing window. I use a New Jersy gravity flow method using vermiculite. I hope to have tomatoes by end of April or early May.

Another bookmark~~thanks neat site;)

I used to have a box of them someone had decorated with royal icing. They were too pretty to use!! LOL! They make a nice gift...if you have the patience. Linda C