Question
I am an avid gardner who has raised vegetables in the Denver area for 20 years.  I have decided to grown Watermelon and Cantaloupe this year for the first time and have a few questions.
1.  How much room do they need to spread in?
2.  Can I water them right along with my tomatoes, peppers, and lettuce/spinach, or do they need more/less water?
3.  Do they need pruning?
4.  How do I know when to harvest them?  

Answer
Ken:
Good luck with that. I think we are about the same latitude, and I do grow cantaloupe, but have given up on watermelon. Don't expect ripe melons until fall! I recommend using hot caps or tunnels to get them growing, and short season varieties.

You can water them along with everything else, they like water up until they start to ripen. You will be able to tell because they will change color. True cantaloupes will slip right off the vine when they are ripe, other melons you have to use color change mostly. You can also press the flower end to see if it gives, like you would in the grocery store.

Watermelons are the hardest. I have had fairly good luck combining two signs. First, watch for the tendril closest to the melon to turn brown. Then check the "ground spot". That is simply the spot on the melon that is touching the ground. It will be yellow when the melon is ripe.
They sprawl quite a bit, but they can be grown on a trellis to save space. I like to give the melons some support in the form of a sling when grown this way. You don't have to prune them, but I usually cut the ends of the vines off when there are two or three melons, as the others usually don't have enough time to ripen.

Elyse