denninmi, how many fruits did you get from each vine? I will definitely start indoors first. I think I have enough time to start outdoors but I prefer to free up space for fall planting of other vegetables.

Hmm, good question. I planted out about 8 to 10 plugs, but there were 2 to 4 seedlings in each one. So, I guess the best answer to your question is roughly 4 to 5 fruits per hill, since I had somewhere around 40 total melons -- I never did count them per se, but carried down two big crates, and I did count the first crate, which was 19 fruits.

First time I've heard about these, 'Winter Melons'?
How do they compare to a regular melon? What sort of taste?

Um, they have nothing at all to do with a regular (fruit) type melon. They are actually a kind of gourd that is used like a squash -- the flavor overall is very, very similar to summer squash or zucchini. The texture is a little bit firmer and less watery. They have a large central seed cavity similar to a true melon, which explains part of the name, IMO. The "winter" part comes in because they store a long, long time like a winter squash. Think of it as storage zucchini.

It is hard to describe the flavor but they are common sold in asian markets. They are often served in soup flavored with country ham or dried shrimp. The melon itself doesn't have much taste to it but it is like a sponge so it soaks up the flavor of the soup.

my family grows them in hawaii, the vines crawl over a large area on the ground, it keeps for quite a while, all i remember about it is , they start the seed in cups and transplants them when the second or third set of leaves are out and when they harvest wait until it gets its white coating and the stem is dry or start to shrivel, it keeps for months. we always made squash soup. for banquets, chefs would carve an elaborate design into the skin and serve the halved squash supported in a large tureen, kind of like serving clam chowder in a bread bowl. some of the squashes(winter melon) grows as large as watermelons