1. Good Organic Gardening - January-February 2016

CLEVER CROP | Mouse melon
Cucumber’s
cool cousin
Is the mouse melon a cucumber or is it a
melon? We could call it a cucamelon
Words Jennifer Stackhouse
If I were to give a vegetable an award for
cuteness, the mouse melon would win hands
down. It looks like a watermelon for the little
folk. The small fruit, which are produced
prolifically, is light green with darker green
stripes, and about 3cm long. Its cuteness makes
it highly appealing to children and could entice
vegetable-phobic kids to eat their greens.
Although known as a melon, it is better
described as a tiny cucumber. The fruit is
crunchy and can be eaten skin and all. It has
a cucumber-like taste with a slight sour kick
from the skin. It’s eaten raw like a cucumber,
diced as a salsa or sliced and added to
a stirfry. I’ve even seen it suggested as
a substitute for an olive in a martini!
Like many in the cucurbit family, this vine
produces male and female flowers on the
same vine. The flowers are tiny and yellow. The
female flowers form fruit after receiving pollen
from the flowers on the same or another plant.
These plants come from Mexico (where they
are called sandita) and Central America where
Its cuteness makes it
highly appealing to
children and could
entice vegetable-phobic
kids to eat their greens.
Mouse melon Label
Common names: Mouse melon,
cucamelon, Mexican sour cucumber
Botanical name: Melothria scabra
Family: Cucurbitaceae (cucumber
family)
Requires: Full sun, well-drained soil
Dislikes: Frost, cold conditions
Suitable for: Trellis, fence, pergola
Habit: Annual or perennial vine
Needs: Support
Propagation: Seed
Difficulty: Easy
they have long been in cultivation. Despite their
charms and the fact that they are quite easy to
grow, they are still rare in our gardens.
Growing tips
Mouse melon needs a long warm period to grow,
flower and form fruit. In cool and temperate
areas, plant seed in spring as you would plant
cucumbers and grow the plants through
summer for harvesting in late summer and
autumn. In warmer zones mouse melon can be
planted and harvested year round.
These are vigorous plants that need
support. Vines can reach 3m or more high
when encouraged onto a wire fence, arbour
or tepee. They are ideal for a sunny balcony
or courtyard as they are productive in a large
container and grown on a wire frame.
Finding seed
Mouse melon is available from online
seed specialists but may be listed under
any one of its many names. If you can’t
find it under mouse melon, try cucamelon
or Mexican sour cucumber.
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12 | Good Organic Gardening