Horticulturalists at East Malling Research have suggested melons could be grown as a secondary crop to strawberries in the UK, providing some extra income and filling a gap in the market after the Southern European season.

Researchers at the centre in Kent grew trials of Eminenza and Magritte varieties in 2011 and again this year; they concluded that planting a late melon crop could provide extra income and provide an opportunity for growers towards the end of the Spanish melon season.

A commercial melon crop was successfully grown by researchers at the horticultural research institute last year. Presenting their findings at the fruit industry’s Fruit Focus event in July, researchers explained how, by planting seeds in May rather than April and harvesting once the influx of melons from Spain had begun to wane, farmers could secure a premium price and grow melons weighing around 800g.

They said melons are a suitable crop to follow strawberries if managed carefully. Insect pollination is essential and commercial melons would require tunnels to grow.

Melons have been grown in the UK for a number of years, though mostly on a non-commercial basis. Following hot summers in the mid-2000s, seed companies began trialling melon varieties that would grow well in the UK, though the fruits yielded from melon plants grown outdoors are generally small and termed ‘personal melons’.

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