Tip from nature, after Spring the rains slow, so we HOLD water from melon plants as they mature, plants naturally wilt in the heat, so don't look at them until late evening. IF the plant is still wilted when the sun comes up, then you water. That plastic could have cooked the roots...if you are going to use shade, do it from above and let the plant shade its own roots.
City water has chloramines that plants don't like, better to let it disperse. Can't remove the chlormines that I know of anyway.
Ditto to the above. Melons and cantaloupes don't develop if they don't have enough light, and if they don't develop, they rot.
