To help your seedlings germinate more quickly and successfully, you may also need to use a heat mat. Choose the best looking seedling in each pot to keep, and snip the stems of the other ones off with a pair of scissors right above the surface of the soil.
Around a week or so after your last frost, when daytime temperatures are at least in the 70s, start to harden off your seedlings.
To do this, place them outside in a protected location for an hour or so. Each day, increase the amount of time they spend and the amount of direct sunlight they are exposed to outdoors. About two weeks after your last frost, if daytime temperatures are at least in the 70s, you should be ready to transplant your seedlings.
Plan on planting two seedlings per hill or crater. To do this, trim the top rims of your biodegradable pots so that they are even with the soil level inside. Dig a hole in the hill or crater that will accommodate the pot — you want the rim of the biodegradable pot to be at the soil level. Backfill with soil, and gently water your transplants in.
Continue to water daily for the next several days to help prevent transplant shock. Like pumpkins , they can also go outside of their boundaries, looping over fences and even wrapping around other plants. To make sure your melons have plenty of room to grow and to prevent them from disturbing neighboring plants , you may want to pick a planting area far away from the rest of your garden.
Or you can even go vertical and try your hand at growing your melons on a trellis — though the fruit will need support and the trellis will need to be very sturdy. Keeping track of crop rotations is fairly easy when you are gardening in raised beds — especially with the help of your garden journal. These plants require a full sun location , which means eight to 10 hours a day — or more — of direct sunlight.
When preparing your garden beds, make sure to look around and identify any trees that might shade your garden once they fully leaf out, and site your melon patch away from any potential shade.
Remember, at their origins these were desert plants that grew under direct sun with only the shade of their own leaves for protection. Watermelons grow best in loose, well drained, sandy soil.
There is an exception to this — if you are working with clay soil, adding sand can cause the soil to turn into a cement-like substance. For gardeners with clay, first work on creating a lighter texture by amending it with compost. In the meantime, your best bet may be to grow your melons in raised beds with a mixture of garden soil and sand.
Your soil test will also provide information about the soil pH. Watermelons grow best in soil with a pH between 6. Whether you plant in raised beds or in the ground, work compost into the soil at the rate of pounds per square feet to improve soil structure — and be sure to fertilize.
You may want to consider no-till style gardening , but do make sure you loosen up the soil before planting. This provides a little extra room for the vines to sprawl over and also prevents water from pooling around the main stem. To create such a crater, dig a hole about two to three feet across and six inches deep. Take the soil you remove and mound it around the rim. A good rule of thumb is to create your mounds or craters about three to six feet apart in rows that are six to 18 feet apart.
These measurements are flexible — just be aware that the vines can easily reach 10 feet in length, and plan accordingly. In humid climates you may want to opt for the more generous spacing, to help with air circulation and reduce the risk of disease. Smaller varieties can be planted closer together. Check the spread of your chosen cultivar on your seed packet.
These results will alert you to any nutrient deficiencies and provide recommendations for the appropriate type and amount of fertilizer to use for your particular garden soil. Whatever the results of the soil test, the compost you work into your soil will be a good form of slow-release fertilizer. Well-rotted manure is an excellent natural fertilizer — just be sure that it comes from a trusted source. If livestock have been eating feed sprayed with herbicides, chemicals can sometimes pass through in the manure and cause problems when used as a garden amendment.
Personally, I add both well-rotted manure and compost every spring as I am prepping my soil. Down to Earth Vegetable Garden Fertilizer.
Apply it according to the instructions on the package. Once plants are established, feed them with a monthly side dressing of all-purpose fertilizer, a foliar spray of comfrey tea , or some worm compost. While seeds are germinating and when seedlings are young, in my arid climate, I like to make sure to water every day if the soil has dried about. I stick my finger in the soil about an inch deep to test it. Once plants are established, water deeply and consistently, but less frequently — these plants require one to two inches of water a week , so you may not need to irrigate on weeks when you get rain.
As fruits ripen, even watering is important, to prevent fruits from cracking. Since watermelons hold so much water, they can split or crack while ripening if watering is erratic. And one more thing to remember when you irrigate: try to water at ground level to avoid splashing water on the foliage, which can spread disease. Another advantage of mulching is that when placed under ripening fruits, mulch will help prevent the fruits from rotting.
So if temperatures in your area are hotter than that, try using straw mulch under your plants to keep the soil cool. I use dark compost as a mulch in my high-altitude location where the nights are cool.
The dark mulch absorbs heat during the day and releases it at night, keeping the soil warmer. Big, juicy watermelons with red or bright pink flesh are delicious, but there are many different cultivars to choose from when growing these fruits in the home garden.
Do you prefer the smaller round ones that will easily fit in the fridge? Or are you the adventurous type, looking for surprising features such as yellow flesh or golden skin? There are options in a variety of colors as well! These oblong melons have medium-green rinds with dark green striping and max out at pounds when fully ripe. The thick rinds on these fruits are great for pickling.
You also need to prepare mounds of soil to sow the seeds in as they will drain water faster than soil on flat ground. These mounds of soil also tend to be warmer, which is ideal for tropical fruit like watermelon. For most varieties, the seeds should be sown an inch deep into a inch tall mound. Watermelons require a thorough watering once a week. Once the seeds have germinated, give your plants an inch of water every week.
A little bit of balanced fertiliser each week can also be good for your plants as watermelons take a lot of nutrients from the soil and compost. On average, it takes around three months for a watermelon to grow from seed to mature fruit, with smaller varieties having shorter growing times than larger varieties of watermelon. Around two weeks after your vines start rambling, your watermelon plants should start flowering, with the smaller male flowers showing up first and the fruit-bearing female flowers appearing soon after.
Learn how your comment data is processed. Please check settings. Growing Watermelon: Watermelon originated in tropical Africa. Small, round watermelons can be successfully grown in cooler short-season regions, large oblong watermelons up to 50 pounds can be grown in tropical regions.
Watermelons do best where the seaon is warm and long. Direct seed seeds in mounded hills spaced feet apart; direct sow 4 weeks after the last frost. When the plants emerge thin to the best 2 plants in each hill. For those growing in frost areas, sow seeds indoors weeks before the last spring frost in 3-inch pots for transplanting out when temperatures warm to 75F.
Watermelon prefers rich, light, well-drained soil—so dig in plenty of compost before sowing or transplanting. Side-dress watermelons with dried manure or organic fertilizer when they are still upright, before they sprawl.
If you are in a rainy region, be sure the plants are set on high well-drained hills. Be consistent in watering. Reduce water 4 weeks before harvest when melons are about two-thirds mature size. Watermelons grow best where the day temperatures are between 70F and 90F and where night temps do not fall below 60F. Thanks for your useful comments on growing Watermelons.
I was told by someone not to transplant watermelons and grow them directly in the final location. I am in Dubai and summer temperatures are regularly 40 to 50 degrees Centigrade. I planted 10 seeds in February and I have around 5 plants. Now in Mid June — I have one fruit that was the first one appeared in early May and it just stopped growing. Its not growing in size though it looks green and healthy. I have another fruit that is growing very well and is like a smallish football now Appeared at end of May.
Q1: When is the best time to pick the fruit? How do I know that it is ripe? Q2: There are still female flowers coming on some of the plants. I am pollinating these using the male flowers. But will these grow into good fruits — now that we are in June Full summer.
This is my first garden — just had it laid end of Dec and I am experimenting with several different plants. Dear Mr Moosa Hi, I am producing several crops in large scale in a country by the same weather condition. You can easily plant Watermelon, Abusabaein, Maize,Sweet corn, Sesame,Muskmelon, Different other crops Just you should adjust the best time of planting for different crops.
How many Black Diamond watermelons grow per plant? Some of my tiny watermelons are turning completely black. Would you happen to know why? A watermelon can set as many fruits as there are flowers; however, too many fruits will stress the plant resulting in some fruits failing. Allow the plant to set just two fruits; nip away flowers that appear after you have selected the two fruits you want to mature.
Is it possible to grow Watermelons outdoors in the north of England? We get plenty of rain, but not so much sun! I have been growing watermelons in my greenhouse, this is my first time growing them. Does anyone know what could cause this? The other two plants nearby are showing the same symptoms but not as badly-any chance I can save them? I prefer organic gardening if possible, but would welcome any recommendations. Many thanks.
It seems the level of acidity in the soil is high or too much , and therefore affects the performance of the plants. Watermelons and other melons grow best in full sun in rich, loose, warm soil, soil no cooler than 60F. Keep the soil warm by covering it with black plastic. Depending upon the cultivar, your watermelons will need 85 to days of warm weather to reach harvest. Plant your watermelons in the warmest part of your garden, perhaps near a wall, fence, or building where it will receive reflected heat.
Given the rainy situation, you might try growing your watermelons under plastic tunnels; you will protect them from the rain and trap solar heat at the same time. Melon leaves that turn brown and wilt may have angular leaf spot, anthracnose, or Alternaria blight.
Angular leaf spot, a bacterial disease, starts with water-soaked spots on leaves and stems; a bacterial ooze will follow on leaf undersides. Prune off infected leaves and stems; spray with copper to slow the spread of disease. Anthracnose, a fungal disease, can start as yellow water-soaked spots on melons; leaves turn brown. Spraying with sulfur can help slow the spread of this disease. Alternaria blight, a fungal disease, causes concentric rings on melon leaves, leaves yellow an die.
Remove leaves from infected plants; spray plants with a baking soda solution or compost tea. These diseases can be slowed by irrigating at the base of plant stems, not overhead. Allow plant foliage to dry each day.
If your plants die, you will want to thoroughly clean the greenhouse or planting bed; remove all crop debris to be rid of any remnants of the problem. Plant so that there is plenty of air circulation around plants. Choose disease resistant seed or starts for planting. Vegetable gardening in hot summer regions calls for a shift of your growing season.
To grow watermelons it helps to raise the soil make mounds or ridges. Raising the soil has several advantages:. A mound or ridge is free draining melons don't like wet feet. If you have heavy clay soil, definitely raise the bed. Mounds are also good if the soil is as poor as mine. I just make a mound of good soil with lots of compost in it to grow watermelons. Sometimes I plant them in what's left over from a compost pile after I used most of the compost.
If you like growing things in neat rows, or if you want to plant a large area, grow watermelons on ridges, like the commercial growers do. I prefer growing watermelons in clumps on a mound, in several different locations in the garden. Mixing things up helps keeping pests and diseases at bay.
I plant about ten seeds in it, in three groups of three to four seeds each. The groups are spaced about a foot apart 30 cm. After a few weeks I can see which watermelon plants grow the strongest, and I snip off the weaker ones, leaving only one seedling in each group.
Don't pull them up, cut them off. Or you disturb the roots of the others. If you have a very small garden but absolutely have to have watermelons, you can try growing them on a trellis.
You need a very strong trellis, you need to train them up the trellis because they aren't climbers so won't climb up on their own, and you need to support the developing fruit so the trellis holds the weight, not the plant.
Slugs and other seedling chomping critters like mulch and they like watermelons. So wait until the watermelons have outgrown the most vulnerable stage where a slug can demolish them within minutes. Then mulch the area well. Watermelons have very shallow roots and they need lots of moisture. The soil should never dry out and mulch helps with that. Mulch also keeps weeds down. Weeding could disturb the shallow roots, so it's better to not let weeds grow to start with.
Watermelons are VERY hungry plants. If your mulch is something like compost or aged animal manures, all the better. Like all cucurbits, watermelons can handle fairly raw compost and manures. Otherwise, feed your watermelons regularly with something like pelleted chicken manure or another organic fertiliser. Ideally you should use a high nitrogen fertiliser in the early stages, but cut back on nitrogen and give them lots of potassium once they flower and fruit.
As your watermelon vines grow bigger they will start trying to take over more space.
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