Melon Charentais is often called the aristocrat of melons, a classic French type producing small, round fruit with smooth grey-green skin and extraordinary, intensely perfumed salmon-orange flesh. It is revered around the world for its unparalleled aroma and sweetness, and by many accounts is considered the finest-flavoured melon there is. What sets Charentais apart from the rockmelons most New Zealand gardeners are familiar with is the sheer intensity of its fragrance and flavour. Cut one open at the peak of ripeness and the perfume fills the room before you have even taken a bite, a quality that has made this variety a favourite of French markets and home gardens alike for generations. As an open-pollinated variety, Charentais also gives you the option of saving your own seed from the best fruit each season, so a good crop this year can form the basis of future plantings. It is a tender annual through and through, needing consistent warmth from sowing right through to fruiting, with no tolerance for frost at any stage. Given a warm, sunny position with plenty of room to sprawl, Charentais rewards patience with small, exceptionally sweet melons that are best enjoyed simply, chilled and sliced, letting that famous aroma and flavour do all the talking. Sowing Melon Charentais Sow from September to November, either direct into warm soil or raised undercover for transplanting once conditions have settled. Soil temperature should be maintained between 20-30°C for germination, which typically takes 5-10 days. Once frosts have passed and seedlings are established, plant into a warm, full-sun position with rich, well-drained soil, spacing plants 60cm apart within the row and 150cm between rows to allow for their sprawling vines. Harvesting Melon Charentais Fruit is generally ready 80–100 days from transplanting. Look for several signs together: the skin’s background colour changing from dark green to a lighter, more yellow tone; the tendril directly opposite the fruit stem becoming dry and brown; and a rich, sweet, musky fragrance. The stem may also develop a ring of fine cracks and begin to “slip”, allowing the melon to come away with a gentle pull. If it falls from the vine, it may be overripe; if it needs to be forcibly pulled, it is not yet ready. Where netting is present, it should be thick, dense and rough. Harvest promptly, as Charentais melons do not hold their peak flavour for long once ripe.
