Cucamelon seeds

Cucamelon or Mexican miniature watermelon, Mexican sour cucumber, Mexican sour gherkin, mouse melon, or pepquinos / Melothria scabra

An annual plant with climbing shoots. Fruits are oval in shape, about 4 cm long, similar to watermelon: the green peel is covered with stripes and spots. The taste is similar to an ordinary cucumber, but at the same time with a hint of melon and slight sourness.

Ideal for salads and pickling.

Melotria propagates by seeds, which are planted in the usual way to obtain seedlings, which are poured into boxes with a nutrient mixture in the first half of April. The seeds are very small, so it is better not to sprinkle them with earth, you just need to cover the surface with a film. Seedlings appear quickly, within two to three days. When the third true leaf is formed, the seedlings are transplanted into separate pots, two or three seedlings each. Seedlings are regularly watered, however, avoiding waterlogging. In mid-May, seedlings can be planted in a permanent place, in light fertile soil.

Melothria needs quite a lot of sunlight, although it can tolerate some shading. If the purpose of planting is to create vertical gardening, then at the beginning of the growing season, the plant must be fed with nitrogen - then the greenery will be more lush. But to get more fruits, fertilizing with complex fertilizers with a predominance of phosphorus and potassium is necessary.

Melotria is a great addition to already known culinary recipes, it is especially appreciated by chefs of vegan cuisines. Fresh melotria fruits are added to salads, used as a decoration for various dishes, they are pickled as part of pickles and pickled in dill brine like cucumbers. Finely chopped mouse melons are added to salsa - they say that they give the dish a unique zest.

There are two serious differences between rough melotria and hanging melotria. Firstly, melotria drooping has no root tubers, and secondly, it is prone to the formation of long horizontal shoots that take root easily when in contact with moist soil. Aggressive shoots of the plant quickly capture a significant area. Such shoots must either be raised on a support in a timely manner to form a beautiful green trellis, or ruthlessly removed.