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Growing watermelon
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Paula harvesting a watermelon
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I'm a sucker for watermelons. As a child it was a summer treat chomping
into their moist pinky-red flesh. Now we can grow our own; and you should
too if you love this wonderful fruit.
Growing conditions
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Watermelon is definitely a warm season grower. It performs well in
almost all climates during late spring and summer.
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They love sunny, well drained beds.
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Watermelons like a soil manured the previous season. Make sure you
add some potash to encourage flowering.
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Yes, watermelon is a fruit but it can be grown in the vegetable patch.
In a 4 bed rotation system watermelons
are grown with pumpkins, sweet corn and cucumbers. You can grow it
somewhere else though if you've got the extra space.
Garden care
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We've grown a number of watermelon varieties, but from experience
don't bother with Mini Lees; their germination rate was non existent.
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It's usually easiest to directly sow your seed where you want your
watermelons to grow. Create a foot wide mound of soil about an inch
taller than the surrounding soil. Plant 3 or 4 watermelon seeds as
deep as your first knuckle.
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Unfortunately it's important to thin out you seedlings down to 1
or 2 plants.
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Usually it doesn't take too long before watermelon flowers turn into
fruits. The one thing we're truly amazed about is how quickly the
developing watermelons grow. You can literally notice their growth
by the end of the day. It really is incredible.
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But if you do have pollination problems you might want to get some
cotton wool buds to transfer pollen from the male to female flowers.
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Contrary to what you'd expect with their name, watermelons are reasonably
drought tolerant.
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Avoid watering the leaves, otherwise you may get powdery mildew.
If this happens spray with wettable sulphur.
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Keep an eye out for bean bugs. They look like ugly lady beetles with
too many spots on an orange shell. Squash them and their fuzzy larvae
before you get too many otherwise they'll eat
Harvest time
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Harvest watermelons when: the stem starts to shrivel, the underside
yellows and you when you knock the melon you get a dull, hollow sound.
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Cut the stem of watermelons cleanly with scissors or a knife.
Last Updated
17 November, 2008
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