Melon Alienor - Cucumis melo

Soil preparation: Melons require nutrient-rich soil and plenty of warmth for successful fruiting. Choose a location that is both sunny and sheltered. Melon plants thrive in cool, well-drained soil. Loosen the soil to a depth of about ten centimeters without turning it over. Add well-decomposed organic compost. If the soil doesn't drain well, you can create small mounds for each plant.

Sowing under glass: In regions with less sunshine, it is advisable to sow melon seeds on a warm bed in a greenhouse before transplanting them into open ground. Starting from the end of March, fill pots (minimum 8 cm (3in) in diameter) with special seed compost and plant 2 or 3 melon seeds per pot, with the pointed end facing downwards to facilitate root development. Moisten the soil, which should remain moderately damp. The seeds usually germinate within a week. When the plants have three true leaves, thin them out to keep only one plant per pot. Depending on the sowing date, you can either transplant them into open ground if the soil is warm enough and the risk of frost has passed, or keep one plant in each pot until the soil warms up. When transplanting into open ground, leave a spacing of 1 meter (3 feet) between rows and between plants in a row.

Sowing in open ground: In southern regions or on the Atlantic coast, it is possible to sow melon seeds directly in open ground. Make sure the soil is sufficiently warm beforehand. Sow two to three seeds in holes, with the pointed end facing downwards, while maintaining a spacing of 1 meter (3 feet) between rows and between plants in a row. Moisten the soil, which should remain moderately damp. When the plants have three true leaves, keep the strongest one. This sowing can be done in May, once the risk of frost has passed. Use cloches or mini tunnels if necessary.

Melons require regular watering (about twice a week in summer, depending on the climate). Be careful to water only the base of the plant and not the leaves to prevent powdery mildew. Regularly weed and hoe.

Melons are quite "demanding", so you can follow them with peas or broad beans.