How to Grow Melons on Plastic

Select a planting site that gets full sun, eight hours per day. Pull up any weeds in the planting site. Loosen the soil by passing over it with a garden tiller at a depth of 6 inches. Do this in early spring, after the last frost has passed.

Use a shovel to create raised planting rows for the melons. Mound the soil up to make rows that are 3 feet wide, and 8 inches high. If you have more than one row, space them 6 to 7 feet apart.

Lay a soaker hose over each row, 3 inches off center. The soaker hose will water the mounds without you having to remove the plastic.

Cover the rows with black landscaping plastic during the hottest part of that day. Pull the plastic tight, so it lays flat over the soil and does not wrinkle. Pour topsoil over the edges of the plastic to keep it from blowing away.

Poke holes into the plastic every 3 feet. Insert one seed into the soil under the holes at a depth of 1 inch. Turn on the soaker hose to water the soil. Continue watering at a rate of 1 to 2 inches per week. The seeds will germinate and grow up, out of the holes in the plastic.

Harvest the melons as they become ripe. The time will vary with your melon species.