What's the best technique for farming melons?

To grow Melons, you need Farmland to plant the Melon Seeds in, and dirt, farmland, or grass blocks adjacent to those where the Melons can grow onto. Melons grow slowly until their stem grows to the maximum size, at which point a Melon grows on a suitable block adjacent to where the stem grew out of (where you planted the seed). The Minecraft Wiki page on Melons has a nice section on farming them. They suggest using an arrangement like this:

S S S S S S S S S |
# # # # # # # # # |
# # # # # # # # # | S = Watermelon seed
S S S S S S S S S | # = Dirt/Grass/Farmland
S S S S W S S S S | W = Water block
# # # # X # # # # | X = Random block
# # # # # # # # # |
S S S S S S S S S |

I personally like to use the same method I used w/ wheat but w/melons. I think this is the quickest way to harvest any plant. I'm the type that likes to build my farms underground so here's my technique:

# # # # # # # # #|
S S S S S S S S S| # = Farmland
W W W W W W W S #| S = Seeds
S S S S S S S S S| W = Water
# # # # # # # # #|

Note: The dirt blocks are placed 1 block above ground level to prevent stepping on the farmland and the torches are placed 1 block level above the seeds except for the two on the far right side.