The Hort Report: Picking watermelons and cantaloupes, planting pansies and pruning grapes — but not bushes

The dog days of summer are over. The weather has been great to be doing all types of garden work and harvesting all types of vegetables. 

I was asked when to harvest cantaloupe the other day. Look at the stem on the cantaloupe where it is attached to the vine. Put pressure on it. If the stem comes off easily, then the cantaloupe should be ripe. Cantaloupe should be golden yellow with well-netted lines covering the outside skin. There should be a sweet smell to it.

If cantaloupe is picked too early, there won’t be much taste or flavor to it. The outer skin will be soft. If you do pick one too early, you can let it sit a few days to ripen on its own. If you do this, the taste and flavor won’t get any better. If a cantaloupe gets too ripe on the vine, it will get mushy and not much good to eat.

Pick watermelons when the field spot on the bottom of the watermelon growing next to the soil changes color from white to medium to dark creamy yellow. The bigger the spot, the sweeter the watermelon should be. 

When thumping a ripe watermelon you will hear a hollow sound. Unripe watermelons will make a dull sound. 

The tendril on the main vine connected to the watermelon turns brown and dry to the touch. The main vine will turn brown and crack. This is easy to see and will help you know when to pick your watermelon. Once you pick a watermelon, it won’t ripen anymore and won’t get sweeter. 

Cantaloupes and watermelons should be harvested in the coming days.

If you like to grow pansies, plant your seed now in a growing tray. Put the tray in a cool, shady place covering the seed with about ¼ inches of soil. Keep it moist.

Pansy seed germinates best in darkness in seven to 20 days at a temperature of 60 to 64 degrees. After the seeds germinate, you should move the tray into a cool location with indirect sunlight. 

Once a good set of leaves forms, transplant the pansy plants into small plant cells or pots. Put them in an indirect sunny location at a temperature of 60 to 68 degrees.  

Don’t prune shrubs and bushes in late summer or early fall. This will encourage new growth to start to form. The new growth is tender, and a killing frost or freeze will damage or kill the new growth. Your shrubs and bushes need to store nutrients to survive the winter during this time of year. 

You can prune any broken, diseased and damaged limbs and branches. Pruning them now will make it easier to prune after the first killing frost in the fall.  

You can prune leaves off your grapes to allow the sunlight to shine on them as they grow. Doing this, along with watering, will help produce large healthy grapes. 

As you harvest vegetables, and they are finished producing for this year, work on next year’s garden plans. Write down what has worked and what didn’t work this year so you know what you need to do this winter to get ready for 2025. 

I will draw out the garden as it appears today on paper, showing where all the vegetables are located. Move the vegetables to new locations for next year on another piece of paper.  

I appreciate your questions in the past. Call me at 573-588-2040, visit me at Shelby County Implement in Shelbina, Mo., email me at sci63468@hotmail.com or check out Greenwell’s Greenhouse Group on Facebook. Ask me anytime you see me. It’s always a pleasure. Asking me questions helps me learn more, too.

Pat Greenwell is the owner of Shelby County Implement in Shelbina, Mo. He was a high school agriculture teacher for 11 years. He has taught adult vocational agriculture since 1987. He also is a research assistant at the Truman State University Ag Department Farm.