Hi goatser,

Here's what I dug up on GardenGuides.com:

Charentais is a type of true cantaloupe from Europe (what Americans call cantaloupes are actually muskmelons.) Thin, smooth skin with light green stripes, maturing to creamy yellow. Orange flesh is fine-textured, delightfully scented and very sweet. You won't find Charentais in your grocery store - it's thin skin and high sugar content make it fragile to ship when ripe. Enjoy its vine-ripened perfection straight from your garden - one of the sweetest rewards of home gardening.

Days to Maturity: 90
When to Sow Outside: Spring, a week or two after last average frost date, and after nights are no longer cool.
When to Sow Inside: 4 to 6 weeks before last frost. Seedlings don't transplant well, so use paper or peat pots.
Seed Depth: 1/2"
Seed Spacing: 2 seeds per mound
Row Spacing: 4' to 6' between mounds

I bet you'll be able to sow it outside soon.

George
Tahlequah, OK

Unfortunately that doesn't give a good idea of how long the vines of each plant get.

I created a 4' x 8' garden just for melons because of how big they get.

Feldon30 how many types of plants do you put in your 4x8. I have one of those I can use.

Well, if they say to leave 4-6' between hills I take it that the melon spreads out pretty well, but that it isn't REALLY rampant. In a 4 X 8' bed I would try planting two hills of 2 plants each. I'd put the hills 3' in from the outer edge, lengthwise and 2' in (down the middle). An option would be to plant a row down the middle of the patch and thin to 4 or five plants, trying to keep them in the middle 4' of the bed. Once you've grown the variety you'll be better able to judge its growing habits. But I suspect this will work.

You should be able to guide the vines back into their 4 X 8 patch if they try to travel outside.

George

Has anybody tried putting two 8 foot rows in about a foot from the edges of a bed this size, with a trellis for each row? Separate the varieties so you can stop watering each variety as it approaches maturity.

Will it do ok on a sturdy fence?

A sturdy fence is fine. I had some melons on a 4-foot wire fence last year, but you could go higher. We have one of those closed tubes for driving the temporary metal fenceposts (the kind with the metal "wings" at the bottom) into the ground securely.