To me, the Charentais melons are easiest. Because they are thin-skinned, you just put your thumbs on either side of the stem and if it yields to pressure, it's done. And if you miss that by one day, the skin starts to split and then you know you have to get it off the vine. Mine sometimes don't even make it into the house for eating!

My favorite is the Savor Charentais, but I'm testing others this year, so I may have a new favorite by next year.

I grew Minnesota Midget muskmelon last year and they were easy to tell because they seperate from the vine when ripe. You could even tell a day in advance because you could see the vine slowly letting go- there would be a little gap around the edges. I think that is true of most musk melons.

Sunni

All muskmelons (American cantaloupes) slip from the vine when ripe) most of them also change color from green to some shade of yellow/tan. Most Galia melons also slip. Some of the modern Honeydew hybrids also slip, but those that don't are tricky because most of them do not show much color change.
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I grew Golden Midget watermelons 2 years ago and they are really easy to tell when ripe. When growing, they are green. They turn yellow when ripe. The problem is they are about the size of a baseball when ripe. But for a limited area, they are pretty good.

I grew some Korean mini melone (elongated, pellow-orange when ripe). They also separate from vine when fully ripe.But in Korean makets you find them with stems attached. The reason is they pick them early in ordr to have longer shelf life.

They're ALL easy to tell if they're ripe once you know what to look for!

I suspect most American gardeners start with muskmelons, which "slip" easily off the vine when ripe as farmerdilla notes. Easy as pie to remember and identify.

My favorite melons are Crenshaws. I can tell when they're ripe because they basically turn yellow, perfume the entire garden, and will yield a little at the blossom end. They don't slip from the vine though. When that fragrance knocks me in the head, that's really when I know at least one of them is ripe. Then you just have to find it.

The Charentais melons also change color and exude fragrance. Many recommend picking the melon when it has changed color and then storing it at room temperature. The French say they're PERFECT for eating when the rind just begins to split. (I guess that's a good reason to bring them inside before that happens!) I grew them a couple of years and found this to be true. Unfortunately, I didn't think they were nearly as great as the Crenshaws so I didn't grow them again.

OH, NO!! NOW I'm going to have to try Crenshaw!!

sunnibel, how did you like the taste of minnesota midget? I have seeds for them, just wondering what I can expect.

Anybody has grown HONEY DEW?
My all favorite melon, crisp and sweet. But have not grown any. I have seeds saved from a nice one I bouight recently and I want to plant some along with those Korean minies. With honew dew, you can slice very young ones in the salad, like cukes, before the seeds start hardening.

Erlyberd- to be honest, it was pretty flavorful, but not real sweet. I'm not sure that this is how it is supposed to taste, because it was my first ever melon-growing experience. But they were very fulfilling to grow. I'm the first one in my family to sucessfully grow a melon! ;)

I grew and got melons once in ten years trying! Every year they just fail. So hope the MM work or I'm done trying to get melons!

You should have much better luck with growing them down your way. Have a great season! Thanks.

Minnesota Midget taste very nice. Maybe not as good as the best muskmelon variety, but worlds above a grocery store melon. You may get a bland one here or there early in the season but in general they are sweet. The nice thing about them is that they are very early and fit into a small space so you can eat fresh melon long before your main crop of larger melons ripen. This year I'm going to try growing 4 plants in a single tomato cage and see what happens.

Mine also flowered early and heavily, attracting bees to the garden long before any of the "companion" flowers I planted.

Spiced Ham: I will second that about the flowering. Mine flowered like the dickens and I saw lots of pollinators!

All melons are easy to tell. The morning you go into the garden and find the melons eaten by racoons--they're ripe!

You can use the same method to tell when the sweet corn is ripe, too.

Catherine

As stated above.....all cantalope/muskmelons turn tan/yellow when ripe.Galia types also turn that color.Both kinds slip from the vine.But don't tug them off or they will be at 1/2 slip and not as sweet.

For varieties I have grown around 35 different ones.For muskmelons....I like the new Goddess and Alaska for an early ones and Aphrodite,Sensation and probably the best tasting of them all.....Athena.

The Galia types are green fleshed,and to me taste closer to Honeydews.I like Passport,Arava,and Rocky Sweet.

Honeydews do not slip and it is a lot more difficult to tell when ripe.Look for a suttle change in color from green to a soft greenish./cream color.Earlydew is reliable here.

Watermelons are totally different.My favorites are Yellow Doll,Mickylee....the crispiest melon I have grown....Sweet Beauty....all 6-10 lbs and the old fashioned Crimson Sweet for a later larger melon.They will hit over 20 lbs here if we have a warm summer.For a seedless.....Gypsy is my favorite.It is the only one that germinates reliably

There is no way to easily tell when watermelons are ripe just by looking at them.I look for the tendril opposite the melon to be dried up.But the best way to tell is to label them when they are polinated.When they are golf ball sized.....I take plastic knives and write the date on it and stick it in the ground next to the melon.Add 30-35 days and it should be ripe most of the time.

Since I live in zone 4 I have to do somethings extra to get ripe melons before frost kills them.

1.Start them indoors 3 weeks early in pots.
2.put down black plastic in a row where they will go to warm up the ground
3.I use clear plastic grow tunnels over them.Cut holes in the black plastic,dig out the soil.Put in some 10-10-10 and put 2 or 3 plants in.Move down the row 3 feet and do it again and again until you have them all planted.Put your clear plastic over hoops and cut holes in it here and there to let out excessive heat.When the melon plants stretch out to the edge of the plastic,uncover them.
4.Get those melons up off the ground and out of the shade of the leaves and into the sunshine.I use overturned pots.Put your dated plastic knife next to it and wait for them to ripen.

People in warmer zones probably don't have to do this.....but here in the northern part of the country it gives me lots of good melons to eat for about 2 months.

Oh....I forgot one other great melon.....The new Santa Claus melon.....Lambkin.It is white fleshed and very sweet.....keeps for a long time.

Well the cantaloupe/muskmelons seem to be easy enough. As far as the watermelons are concerned do some types have a longer "window" when they are good?

Depends on your definition of "good". There are watermelons that have a longer shelf life than others, but in my opinion taste and texture is sacrificed.

I wasn't thinking of shelf life per se. I was thinking more along the lines of if there were watermelons where if you were off by a few days in picking them they would still be good.
Seems like some of these have a 24 hour period where they need to be picked or else they suffer.
Or is shelf life the same as this?

Watermelons typically give you a week or two leeway in picking. Some will hold a month or more after picking (shelf life)