Charentais-  80 days- True cantaloupe, smooth, light green, thin rind, extremely fragrant, grapefruit sized fruits, 1 to 2 pounds.  When ripened during warm, dry weather the fruits are so strong flavored you can smell them several hundred feet away in the garden as they get ripe.  Pkt. $2.25

Cochiti Pueblo- 90 days- Not very netted, oblong to football, irregularly shaped melons that can get very large if grown under proper conditions.  I picked a 22 lb. fruit in 1988 from this variety.  Flesh quality is average and flesh is a medium orange color.  Pkt. $3.00  Certified Organic Seed

Condon- 80 days- one of the many in Tom Knoche’s freezer collection.  I can not find out a documented history but did see it was used to develop Healy’s Pride. It is a very productive type that tends to ripen all at once. Fruits are  fairly netted and ribbed. Flesh is firm and orange and average 3 pounds. Pkt. $2.25  Certified Organic Seed

Crane - 80 days- Crenshaw type, speckled skin, minimal netting, very fragrant, deliciously mild, sweet flavor, 6 to 7 pounds.  Pkt. $2.50  Certified Organic Seed

Dr. Jaeger’s Mildew Resistant- 90 days-  another one form Tom Knoches’s freezer collection.  Very old seed from the mid 1980’s  but germination was good.  Very slow growing for me this year and the fruits are not very large. They fit comfortably in my hand. Heavy netted rind and thick orange flesh. In our cooler nights in late season all other muskmelons got powdery mildew but this one kept mildew free until frost at the end of October.  If you have a mildew problem it would be worth a trial.  Pkt. $3.00 Certified Organic Seed   UNAVAILABLE IN 2024

Dr. Wyche's- 75 days- thick netting  2-4 pound  orange fleshed. Dr. Wyche was one of the earliest Seed Saver Exchange members and sent me numerous varieties.  I am working to get some of them out there to survive the ages.  Pkt. $2.50  Certified Organic Seed

Far North- 60 days - Small, slightly netted fruit that will ripen well in cool conditions. We had a small seed return this year but were blessed by a customer  in Missouri who we sent a few seeds and grew out a nice crop. I remember this old Gurney variety being  one I  had success with when I was child in Salmon, Idaho. PKT. $2.50

Giant Perfection- 75 days -  A large and very productive loosely netted type with juicy orange flesh. When I was young and living in  a non melon growing area I kept trying  this one as it was supposed to get so big. Never got anything and then couldn't get seed once I got to Iowa. I found this seed in Tom Knoche's frozen seed storage( seed was over 30 years old) and some grew.  Fruit average 5-6 pounds easily. Pkt. $1.50  Certified Organic Seed

Golden Gopher- 85 days- Not heavily netted, orange flesh with good resistance to fusarium, developed by the University of Minnesota in the 1930’s.  Fruits tend to pop open when ripe. One of the earliest Seed Savers finds by me here inIowa. My friends David and Gail Lange of Goodell who lured me to Iowa for its fantastic soil and climate  had this one. It appears David's mother had been growing it on the farm since  the 1950's.  Pkt. $2.00  Certified Organic Seed

Granite State- 83 days- 3 to 4 pound lightly netted fruits with deep orange flesh. Flavor is excellent when they ripen when it is dry. One of Dr. Meader's creations for the northeast.  Pkt. $1.50

Greely Wonder - 80 days - Large, semi-netted fruit, super sweet.  Fruits average 5 to 7 lbs. A large and good tasting melon that orginated in Colorado.  Pkt. $2.25  Certified Organic Seed

Hollybrook Luscious - 90 days - First introduced in 1905.  Dark green, oblong melons that ripen yellow/green.  Average 8 to 10 pound UNAVAILABLE FOR 2024

Honey Rock - 85 days - Small, 2 to 3 pounds, heavy netted.  Flavor is superb in most all conditions.  Pkt. $1.50 Certified Organic Seed

Kangold - 75 days - Heavy, netted, grapefruit sized melon, orange, thick flesh.  2014 proved why it was our friend, Gail’s, choice to save for the future.  Planted July 3, we were amazed with an abundance of ripe fruit in September that held well and had a strong, superb flavor.  Pkt. $2.75  Certified Organic Seed

Kansas - 90 days - An heirloom from Kansas.   Vigorous vines, great yields of 4 pound, ridged, netted fruit.  Pkt. $1.50 Unavailable for 2024

Minnesota Midget- 70 days - Small, shallow ribbed fruits that ripen 1 to 2 pounds and are very tasty. This was the first ripe melon I ever grew back in Salmon Idaho , small but sweet and tasty   and for those with cooler conditions and shorter seasons give it a try.  Pkt. $1.50

Oka - 80 days - Large, 4 to 6 pounds, netted melon, flattened in shape, aromatic, sweet flesh.  Developed in 1912 in Quebec.  Originally a cross between Banana and Montreal Market.  Our friend, Tom Bruning, in western Iowa grew our seed crop for us  a few years ago and pronounced this melon the “best ever” even better than his favorite Spear.  He could not believe how it kept producing and producing mouth watering, juicy, full flavored fruits.  We planted our crop in 2021 on July 5 and had a continuous crop of melons from mid September until frost  a month later. Pkt. $1.75 Certified Organic Seed

Olding- 58 days-  a super early type sent to us from central Saskatchewan. Very productive and early. I planted them July 19  in 2019 and they were beginning  to ripen September 15. Fruits are  small and football shaped with an attractive orangish striping on a pale green fruit. Very fragrant but the flesh tends to be rather bland.  Planted mid July again in 2021, they grew in an isolation plot with near zero moisture and ripened in mid September with variable colored but tasty fruit. A real potential variety for short season areas,   Pkt. $2.00 Certified Organic Seed

Old Time Tennessee  - 90 days - Late and very large.  This is a huge melon that is deeply creased, oblong, football shape, does not store long.  Planted in 2014 on July 3, it ripened in late September with many 15 plus lb. fruit.  Pkt. $2.25  Certified Organic Seed

Old West Virginia Heirloom- 85 days - Lightly netted, very productive, superb flavor, medium size, 3 to 5 pound fruits.  Flesh is a bright orange.   Pkt. $2.50 Limit 1 Certified Organic Seed

Oregon Delicious - 83 days - Good yields, flavorful, semi-football shaped. Very similar to Spear with the firm and strong tasting flesh   Pkt. $2.00  Certified Organic Seed 

Petit Gris De Rennes - 80 days - Beautiful greenish-gold, net free skin when ripe.  Flesh is orange and very sweet.  The French do a wonderful job in selecting for top tasting melons. Pkt. $2.00

Pike - 80 days - An heirloom variety developed in the 1930's in Oregon specifically for clay soil. Pkt. $2.50

Pollock Rocky Ford- 85 days- A superb melon, orange flesh, 1 to 2 pounds, not overly large but delightfully sweet.  This one always yields well and holds up well but is for some reason never requested much. Losing hope in 2021 I decided on July 18 to just plant them  and hope for rain. Never really got more than a few showers but they burst forth  and grew and wilted pretty bad many times but produced mountains of  small thickly netted fruits with solid super sweet flesh. Not large but tasty. Pkt. $2.00 Certified Organic Seed

Pride of Wisconsin - 85 days - Faint ribs, coarse net, thick orange flesh, hard shell, 3 to 5 pounds, does well on heavy soils, consistently performs well despite the weather.  Truly adapted to this part of the Midwest. Pkt. $2.00 Certified Organic Seed

Red Queen- 85 days-  a variety brought from China by Glecklers Seed Co. many years ago. It was saved  from extinction by Kory Carmen of Arizona.  Some slight variability in fruit type but fruit is very sweet and deep orange in color.  Pkt. $2.00 Certified Organic Seed

Schoon’s Hardshell - 85 days - Thicker rind, holds well, ships well, 5 to 8 pounds, highly flavored orange flesh.  A true genetic treasure with its firmness yet strong flavor. Pkt. $1.75 Certified Organic Seed

Spear- 85 days- Large, 4 to 6 pounds, football shaped melons, superb tasting orange flesh. A very popular variety in the Pacific Northwest.  These were hard to beat when I lived in the  Lewis -Clark Valley of Idaho. Pkt. $1.50 Certified Organic Seed 

Sugar Salmon- 75 days- Very sweet, netted,  3 to 5 pounds.   Tolerates most diseases quite well. Pkt. $2.00  Certified Organic Seed

Susan Healy - 80 days - A selection made by the Healy family of Healy’s Pride.  Healy’s Pride is very late.  Susan Healy is just as flavorful but earlier, 3 to 5 pounds, sweet and tasty.  Pkt. $2.00

Turbeville - 80 days - Slightly netted, semi-football shaped, 2 to 4 pounds.  Historic variety from the Maryland area. Fruits are pale orange in flesh color.  Pkt. $1.50

Turkey-  90 days- A very old, Southern variety that is an elongated blimp shape.  Fruits average 8 to 12 pounds, though can get much larger.  Large ribs and  somewhat  blimp shaped. Pkt. $2.00  Certified Organic Seed

Wapsi Wonder- 75 days - When I first moved to Iowa I struggled to raise melons as the Cucumber Beetles seemed to spread disease.  I’d have loads of young fruit only to see it all perish.  My collection of over 100 varieties was in trouble.  While I was learning how to deal with these new conditions, I got in the habit of saving seed from the tastiest fruits that survived.  The past few years I’ve stabilized the selection to this melon.  It handles our sand well, can be planted as late as July 10 and still make tasty melons in September.  Fruits are smallish - 2 lbs. at best, somewhat netted and orange flesh.  I can not certify it to be wilt tolerant, but it sure handles it well here.  Introduced by Sand Hill Preservation Center in 2011.   Pkt. $2.00  Certified Organic Seed OSSI pledged variety

Zatta- 85 days- Thick rind old fashioned cantaloupe type. Thick hard flesh of strong flavor. Flesh is a deep orange. Pkt. $2.50 Certified Organic Seed