Cucamelon Plants

The cucumber x melon hybrid!

Grown by Josh

South Downs National Park

Choose your size

2 options

Regular price £7
Regular price Sale price £7

Pre-order

Pre-order for delivery Early June

Pre-order for delivery Early June

Perfectly happy plants, or your money back

Specialist overnight plant delivery

The highlights

  • Distinctive tangy, citrusy flavour
  • Incredibly fast-growing
  • Perfect for pickling
  • Harvest from July to October

Description

  • Originating in Central and South America, the cucamelon (Melothria scabra) is one of the world’s most charming fruits. Though not a hybrid, botanically speaking, this plant boasts fruits that look like a cross between a cucumber and a melon (hence the name).
  • The miniature fruits have all the crunch of a traditional cuke but with hints of sour lime when it comes to their flavour profile. One thing’s for sure, nobody else’s kids will have cucamelons in their lunchbox!
  • Alongside the fab fruits, the plant yields bright green foliage and charming yellow flowers which add huge ornamental appeal during the summer. Fast-growing and fun, there’s really no reason not to grow these unusual plants.
    • Either grow your cucamelon plants in a greenhouse or conservatory, or on a sunny patio in pots. Your plants have been nurtured under glass until they’re healthy young plants, ready to be sent to you and planted.
    • A naturally twining climber, this plant will work its way wonderfully around a trellis or obelisk. Alternatively, you can use a wigwam of bamboo canes.

Supplied as

Strip of 5 Plants
Young plants ready to pot on before planting out

Eventual height

2.5-3m

Eventual spread

1-1.5m
Spreads approx 1-1.5m

Tasting notes

Crunchy cucumber taste with a hint of lime

Time to first crop

3 months
Pick your cucamelons when they're between 2.5-4cm long

Hardiness

Not hardy
H1c - can be grown outdoors in summer

Uses

Eat as snacks or use in salads

Spacing

50cm
Plant 50cm apart to allow for spreading - plants will twine together quite happily
Excellent pest and disease resistance

Excellent pest and disease resistance

Usually pest and disease free

Water regularly

Water regularly

When you first plant your cucamelons give them a good water, then keep the soil consistently moist.

Full sun

Full sun

Cucamelon plants need full sun. Position them where they will get 6-8 hours of direct sunlight every day.

Any fertile, well-draining soil

Any fertile, well-draining soil

Thrives in any well-drained soil. If your soil is particularly clay-heavy and/or often becomes waterlogged then you can improve the drainage by adding in plenty of organic matter such as garden compost as well as some perlite or gravel.

Feed regularly

Feed regularly

When you first pot your plant, you can give it one serving of a balanced (meaning it has an equal amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) plant feed. This helps the green parts of the plant to grow. When you start to see flowers emerge, you will then want to switch to a serving of high potash feed every week. Potash (or potassium) promotes flower and fruit growth and the plant will want a lot of this. High potash feeds are very common and can come as a liquid feed.

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  • Best time to plant
  • Harvest
  • Flower
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Choose your size

Cucamelon Plants Vegetables
Cucamelon Plants Vegetables

South Downs National Park

Meet Josh

Slow grown veg from the sunny South Downs

Our vegetable plants are sown on a family farm in Lancashire, then nurtured into strong young plants by Josh in the sunny South Downs before they rock up in your garden. By selecting only the strongest and tastiest varieties, Josh makes sure you get a headstart on your plot, with impressive crops and no waste.

What customers say about us

We do our best to provide you the best experience ever

Growing with Roots

Good to know

Our plants are grown 
in the UK

Specialist UK growers we know and trust grow your plants the traditional way, with organic fertiliser and biological pest control. They pick only the healthiest plants for you, professionally pruning them so that they’ll grow strong and well shaped.

Our plants are delivered overnight

Your plants are sent to you fresh from the field in our plastic free box that’s specially designed to hold them tight, then securely delivered by specialist plant couriers - straight from the grower to your garden within 
24 hours.

We're here to help at every step

We want your plants to have a long and healthy life. Expect easy-to-follow grow guides and videos devised by our team 
of experts.

Perfect plants, guaranteed

We’re confident that you’ll be delighted 
with your new plants. Need help? Alice and her team are here to guarantee you’re 
perfectly happy.

Digging deep to answer your questions

All of our plants are grown in specialist nurseries with the highest standards of plant care and sustainability. We guarantee you'll love them as much as we do! Don't just take our word for it - we've got thousands of great reviews on Trustpilot.

The delivery timescale for each plant is on the web page (near the 'add to basket's button). You'll receive a dispatch email with an exact delivery date once your plants are on their way, so you can get the garden ready.

We send all of our orders through a courier network designed to handle plants. Specialist equipment ensures that no plants will be damaged during the packing process and every order is carefully finished and checked by plant-loving humans. Your plants will arrive in the most sustainable packaging possible with minimal to no plastic used.

We deliver to anywhere in Mainland UK for our standard delivery cost. We are able to deliver most plants to Highlands and non UK mainland however this will be at an additional cost. This will be calculated at the checkout. Please note, deliveries to these locations will take longer. Unfortunately, we are not able to deliver to Northern Ireland at present.

Ask the grower

One of our trusted team will get back to you via email

What customers say about us

We do our best to provide you the best experience ever
10 May

Best plants you will ever get online

I have ordered plants from them twice this year. They arrived well packaged, on time and looked strong and healthy. I feel the staff from Roots plants deal with their plants and customers with passion and care. I can’t wait to order again, price is good as well.

2 May

Highly recommended all round

Delivered quickly, perfectly packaged and the tree was in excellent condition. Really healthy and taken to the garden with no problems. Can't recommend highly enough. 5 stars isn't enough!

3 April

Satisfied customer

Unlike other online sellers, this company are well ahead in the quality stakes. My plant arrived promptly as per their promise and the plant was much more established and healthy than I had expected. It’s the second time I have ordered from them and I have faith in their promise. Excellent service.

26 February

A really good quality tree

A really good quality tree, delivered on time and very well packaged. But the emailed planting advice and supporting information was what really impressed me. Thoroughly recommended.

18 May

Exceptional quality

The quality of the plants was exceptional, unlike ones I have had before from local garden centres. Thank you so much. I will definitely be using you again.

22 February

Marvellous!

Marvellous service, great plants and fast delivery. Very useful information on how to care for the plants I bought. Easy to use website that makes it far too easy to overindulge in fabulous plants 😂🌱

Fighting plastic waste

Delivering fresh from the nursery

Supporting UK growers