Cantaloupe, galia and watermelons from Baden-Württemberg, Germany

The Holderrieth family has had farmland in the German municipality of Schwaigern (Baden-Württemberg) since 1969. They grow apples, pears, plums, blackberries and miniature kiwi fruit. Besides, they’re also active in wine growing and agriculture. In total, the family owns 40 hectares of production area.

As of this year, the family started testing the production of melons on a plot of 0.5 hectare. Watermelons, cantaloupe and galia melons grow here in tropical temperatures this year. Son Tobias Holderrieth counts on a harvest of 10 tonnes of watermelons. The fruit is sold in their own farm shop or to resellers. “Many customers are surprised we can also grow melons here.”

The warm period of recent weeks wasn’t just advantageous to the growth. “Customers like eating watermelons when it’s warm,” senior manager Dieter says.

The start of the melon production went well. Despite this, Dieter says: “We’re still in the testing phase. After the season we’ll see how it went, and we’ll look at whether we’ll continue.” If they do, the Holderrieth family is planning to expand their melon production to three different places, according to stimme.de, so that the harvest could be extended until September.