Fothergill's RHS Melon Emir F1 Seeds

Details:

• Botanical Name: Cucumis melo 'Emir F1', an elite, highly uniform hybrid cultivar within the Cucurbitaceae family.
• Plant Class: Half-Hardy Annual, possessing superior hybrid vigour that ensures rapid early germination, strong trailing vines, and quick fruit maturity.
• Deliciously Sweet and Aromatic Fruit: Produces high yields of uniform melons packed with a rich, orange flesh, a juicy texture, and a high natural sugar content that delivers a fragrant sweetness far surpassing standard supermarket imports.
• Advanced Cold Tolerance: Specifically bred with robust modern genetics to tolerate lower temperatures, making it a great choice if you are growing in northern regions or unpredictable summer weather.
• Fast-Growing Framework: Developed with an accelerated growth habit, which is ideal for our relatively short growing season because it ensures the fruit ripens fully before the autumn temperature drop.
• Versatile Outdoor Growth: While it thrives under glass, this hard-wearing variety is resilient enough that it can even be grown successfully in a sheltered, sunny spot outdoors in the garden plot or in deep patio containers.
• Nutritional Benefits: A highly rewarding, health-boosting fruit to cultivate at home, serving as a fantastic natural source of hydration, dietary fibre, Vitamin C, and essential antioxidants.

Care Instructions:

• Sowing Position: For a reliable summer crop, sow seeds individually on their edges in small pots of quality seed compost from April to May, maintaining a consistent warm temperature indoors or in a heated propagator. Position in full sun.
• Planting Out and Spacing: Transplant young indoor-raised seedlings to their final growing positions in a greenhouse, polytunnel, or a sheltered outdoor plot from late May to June once all danger of frost has passed, allowing a generous 90cm between individual plants.
• Moisture and Feeding: Keep the soil consistently and evenly moist by watering deeply around the base of the plant, taking care to avoid wetting the main stem or foliage to prevent fungal issues. Apply a high-potash organic liquid fertiliser every two weeks once the first tiny melons begin to form.
• Pinching and Harvesting: Pinch out the growing tip of the main stem after the fifth leaf develops to encourage productive side shoots, and restrict the plant to four fruits per vine to ensure maximum size and sweetness. Harvest the melons cleanly when they release a rich, sweet aroma and develop a slight crack around the stem joint.