17 Growing Tips For Watermelon!

17 Growing Tips For Watermelons Lovers!

Watermelon.  Just the name itself conjures up visions of summer picnics, swimming, hiking, and refreshing deliciousness.  Even better when that big ole watermelon is chilled and sweet and juicy.  Every kid deserves a big slice, with juice drizzling down their chin all the way down to their belly button!

Nowadays, hybrid watermelons from the store just don’t seem to have that juicy flavor they once did.  And sometimes they are even GMO!  Sure they are seedless and red on the inside, but they don’t taste as flavorful.  So why not try growing your own!  The vines are beautiful, and watching that enticing green fruit just lying there, getting bigger and bigger, waiting for the perfect day to be harvested, makes the anticipation even better!

So to get you on your way to your first (or fiftieth!) home-grown watermelon experience, here are a few tips to make your lovely fruit even better!  Need help cutting your large melons?

1. Pick an heirloom variety suited for your area.    Ok sure, heirlooms will have seeds.  But how can you resist a variety  like ‘Moon and Stars’?  Deep rich red, fleshy, meaty, delicious!  Introduced in 1926, when a watermelon was a watermelon!
2. You don’t have to have room in a big garden to plant melons!  You can put a beautiful melon vine in a flower bed.  Simply let some of the vines trellis and the fruit can sit on the ground.  Lovely with summer flowers all around.  Careful though, the vines do need room to spread.  Don’t be afraid to let them spill out over the bed.  Or just plant in a sunny spot in the middle of the  yard!
3. Lots of compost! Well aged manure does wonders for watermelons.  Work in a good helping of well aged manure in with your soil.  Half a bucket of manure to a bucket of soil should be sufficient.
4. Plant in hills. Make a mound of soil for the roots to spread.  Plant five or six seeds in the middle of the mound and water well.  When the sprouts show, thin to three or four of the strongest sprouts.
5. Don’t plant too early! Watermelons need 70-80 growing days, depending on variety.  Don’t plant too early.  The ground needs to be a consistent 70 degrees or so, and very sunny.  Check for smaller, hardier varieties for Northern climates. Select short-season varieties such as ‘Million Bucks Hybrid’ or ‘Orange Sunshine Hybrid’ if your growing season is less than 90 days.  It might help to cover the area with black plastic to warm up the soil.  Watermelons can be started about three weeks early indoors, in transplant pots.  However, they need to still be slightly small when transplanting.  Larger transplants don’t do well.

   

6. Use row covers if needed.  Melons want warm soil, so row covers help hold in the warmth at night.  Melons must stay warm to produce, and between 70-90 degrees is optimal.
7. Add nitrogen rich fertilizer components. Side dress with 5-10-5 fertilizer.  Well aged compost works well too.  When the fruit ‘sets’ on the vine, add another light helping of fertilizer.
8. Layer mulch around the plant to keep in moisture. Composted wood chips work well and can be spread or turned into the soil after harvest.
9. Water heavy and infrequently.  Most melons like heavy watering, but not every day.  An inch or two with a drip or soaker hose every week to ten days is better than just a sprinkle every couple days.
10. Don’t be afraid to pinch off excess buds! Melons will be bigger and healthier if there are 2-3 melons per plant.  More than that, and the plant has to ration out its energy.  Better to have a few good ones than a lot of poor quality melons.
11. Make them a pillow! Pad the area under and around melons with mulch to help lift them off the soil and to make a prettier, rounder melon.
12. Ease up on watering as melons mature. This will help the melon to sweeten as it ripens.
13. Boron helps to make sweeter fruit. 1 teaspoon regular household borax added to 1 gallon of water in a sprayer.  Spray leaves and vines as they begin to spread out and as fruit begins to set.
14. Watermelons are prone to squash borers and cucumber beetles.  If you don’t like spray (I don’t either), use floating row covers, but uncover when the blooming starts so pollinators can do their work.  Plant some garlic near the base of the plants for companion pest control.  A garlic spray helps too.  BT can be used organically on the vines.
15. Keep weeds to a minimum. Watermelon is a high demand plant, so don’t let it share the soil’s energy with weeds.

    

16. Don’t harvest too early! Its hard to tell when the melon is truly ripe.  Some thump it.  Some look for the tendrils to droop and dry.  But the best sign is to look at the bottom.  When the white spot turns a nice yellow, your melon is ready!  .  Don’t let the melon go too long.  Harvest before you see any browning of the vine connected to the melon.
17. Best of all, share with friends! Yum…