Cucamelon

Melothria scabra

Story: These tiny, grape-sized fruits are green and stripy and look like tiny watermelons. They taste more of cucumber crossed with a lemon like tangy berry-sized cucumbers. People seem to love them or hate them; we love them! They grow on delicate but sprawling vines so give them a trellis to grow up, no need to prune, just plant and watch them grow.

When to sow:  March - April indoors

Requirements: Nutrient-rich soil, regular watering, and a lot of sun and something to grow up. 

Seed Saving From cucamelon: There aren't very many varieties of cucamelon available in the UK so they are unlikely to cross. Simply allow the cucamelons to fruit and mature fully (leave them as long as possible on the plant), cut them in half and scoop out the seeds. Wash the seeds under running water in a sieve and allow them to dry fully on a non-stick surface like a plate.

Need to isolate: Not really

Seed Grown: Omved Gardens 

When to harvest for food: When about the size of a large grape. Mid summer onwards

When to harvest for seed: When the size of a large grape - towards the end of summer.

Sending seed back: Please label all seed with variety, type, date and your contact, if you didn't get a chance to fill out our online data collection form, you can also send us a few lines about how it grew for you/flavour etc. A guideline amount of seed to send back to The Seed Saving Network is 1 teaspoon or more (about one cucumber fruit's worth). Send to: Omved Gardens, 1 Townsend Yard, N6 5JF.

Image courtesy of the Incredible Seed Library. 

Please remember, if you’re an individual grower you can order up to 4 packets of seeds. If you order more than this, you will receive just four packs to begin with. This is to ensure we get plenty of data in return and to keep our stocks sustainable for years to come.* 

*Community groups and Experienced Growers can order larger quantities, please email us if this is the case.

If an item is out of stock we will send a close alternative.