You want to plant a watermelon for the first time this year? Here's what you need to know and you'll soon be able to harvest your first melons!
On hot summer days, a crisp melon provides pure refreshment. It tastes best chilled. Or as a sorbet? You have the free choice.
Especially if you grow watermelons in your own garden. Melons thrive not only in Spain or exotic countries, but also grow quite wonderfully in our country.
And this, although their origin is actually in West Africa. But with the right tricks it also works in your garden!
Having planted melons myself three years in a row, I'll tell you my tricks. So you can plant a watermelon and harvest many fruits!
Table of contents
So much in advance: melon cultivation is not for beginners. Because the plants are quite demanding in terms of location, fertilizer and temperature.
In which location watermelons grow best
Watermelon plant prefers a location that is
- is very sunny and warm
- is sheltered from the wind
- provides a sandy and humus soil. Heavy soils are unsuitable.
Lots of sun and little wind
Sun, sun and more sun is the motto of the watermelon plant. High temperatures stimulate growth and ensure that many buds are formed.
In the shade the plant will wither and not produce fruit.
Optimal conditions are provided by a greenhouse. Those who, like me, have no space for a greenhouse, choose the south wall of a house. Here it has sun all day and gets additional heat from the wall.
If you want to plant a watermelon, you need to provide good wind protection.
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The soil for watermelon plants
If you want to plant a watermelon, you need to be very careful with the soil. The plants form many roots and need a lot of nutrients. Too heavy soil can cause waterlogging, which the melon does not like at all.
It prefers loose, airy and sandy soils.
So you need to strongly loosen the soil before planting and fold in humus. But that's not all. Because the plant grows so quickly and strongly, it needs new nutrients throughout the season.
They are highly nutritious and demand a lot from the soil. If you want to have a good harvest, you should fertilize every two weeks.
I put lettuce in the same pot in the fall as a crop rotation. Since lettuce is very unpretentious, I thought that it will certainly work. I can tell you this: the soil was completely spent. I've never had such puny lettuce plants.
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When is the right time to plant watermelon
You have two options: Either you buy a ready-made plant or you grow it from a seed.
If you decide to sow seeds, you need to know that you should not plant them outdoors. It is simply too cold for that.
You must always grow a watermelon in advance. From the end of April, a pot on a window sill with a lot of sun is particularly suitable for this. It should be at least 22 degrees Celsius. Use one pot per seed and place it about 2 centimeters deep in the soil.
With regular watering and plenty of warmth, it will take about 2 weeks before you see the first cotyledons. When you can see the first leaves, you need to move the plant to a 10 cm pot.
It's much easier if you buy a pre-bred plant. Especially if you try it for the first time.
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Planting watermelons
Watermelons are very close relatives of cucumbers and squash. But they are much more sensitive to cold. No wonder, they are used to the high temperatures in Africa.
I bought a watermelon to plant last year and let it get stronger for 3 weeks at a southern window into the house. I can also recommend this to you. You will be able to watch the melon grow bigger day by day.
Too early exposure ends fatally. The plant will stop growing and, in the worst case, even die.
Even if it sounds very late, but stick to it:
- Plant watermelon outdoors no earlier than the end of May. Better still in early June.
- If you want to plant a watermelon in the greenhouse, then you can start as early as April.
Always make sure that the temperature never below 12° Celsius falls.
Since it was quite cold last summer, I wrapped the plant with fleece in the evening after releasing it and thus protected it from the low temperatures. You should do the same especially after the first few days outdoors. Accustom the watermelon plant slowly to the outdoor climate.
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What to look for when planting watermelons
Planting is quite simple. You do nothing but put the plants in the bed with enough distance.
Whether you choose to plant watermelon in the garden or in a pot for both options, a watermelon plant needs 1 to 2 square feet to thrive.
So give it enough space and make sure it is away from other plants.
In the garden, low-growing plants are good neighbors. The best bed neighbor for watermelon is cut lettuce. However, the same applies here: Keep a lot of distance.
To keep the garden soil warm and moist at all times, you can use sod as a mulch layer or place a black pond liner on top of the soil.
Grow the melon in the pot - my experience
If you want to plant a watermelon in a pot, I have a few tips for you. For me, the melon plants always end up in the pot and I have had very good experiences with it.
My pot is an old galvanized washing trough - dimensions: 120 cm long, 60 cm wide and 60 cm deep. The sun warms up the trough. It is also very sturdy and stable. At the bottom I drilled holes so that the excess water can drain.
- The soil is a mixture of humus, raised bed soil and vegetable soil.
- The pot is located on the south side of the house. Thus, when planting watermelon, I provide a lot of sun and at the same time wind protection.
- The melon has a climbing support made of old boards.
- I water the melon every day and fertilize it every 3 weeks. More fertilizer would probably have resulted in more fruit.
- The first watermelon harvest was in the middle of September.
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Why your plant needs a climbing aid
Whether garden, balcony or terrace: melon needs a climbing support. It forms very long tendrils within a very short time. You should let them climb upwards. This way, the fruits are safe from snails and cannot start to rot.
As a climbing aid are suitable sticks, lattice, bamboo, balcony lattice and much more.
I somehow assembled my climbing aid from old wood, twine, nails and screws. I will not win a prize for the look with it, but it worked out well :)
If the melon forms fruits, they will pull down the tendrils. To relieve the plant, you can put the melon in a fruit net and tie it to the vine support.
Since my framework was very unstable, I waited until the melon was almost at the bottom and used an upside-down flower pot as a support. The second melon was on the ground - I protected it from rotting by putting straw under it.
How to properly care for your watermelon plant
If the melon plant has become accustomed to its location, then you can watch it grow about 10 centimeters every day. Its growth is almost unstoppable. For it to continue at such a rapid pace, you need to provide it with water and nutrients.
Casting
If you want to plant a watermelon, you should have a rain barrel. Because the plant loves low-calcium and temperate water - and really a lot of it. But that's no wonder, because the fruit consists of 90 percent water.
The melon reacts to very cold water by stopping growth. If you don't have a rain barrel, put the water in the sun for at least an hour. It should be lukewarm.
Besides lime and cold water, the plant also does not like it when the leaves get wet. Therefore, water only on the soil. Wet leaves increase the risk of powdery mildew.
While the melon is in bloom, you should water it daily and make sure the soil is always moist.
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Fertilize
We've already had this topic briefly. But let's look at it again. Because as a heavy grower, fertilizer really can not be neglected when planting watermelon.
So for a good start you should work compost into the soil. This is enough for the first two weeks, from then on your plant will require new nutrients every 14 days.
I was able to harvest two large melons from one plant with 3 weeks of fertilizing. I am sure I could have harvested more if you had fertilized more often. This year I'm going to try an extra helping.
Reach for organic fertilizer. I alternate between a purchased fertilizer and my homemade nettle liquid manure.
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When the watermelon is ripe
Probably the most important question after "What should I pay attention to when planting watermelon?". After all, you want to enjoy a delicious melon soon.
Here you can not be too hasty. In midsummer, when a melon would be just right, most likely, your fruits will not be ready.
If the summer was very warm, then the earliest you can harvest the first melon from the end of August.
If you are too impatient, you will encounter light pink flesh that tastes like nothing at all. The fruits form the sweetness only at the very end.
Your watermelon is ripe when
- the shell has dark green stripes
- it sounds dull when knocking
- the leaves begin to wilt in the fall.
After harvesting watermelons, you should immediately start eating them. They can be stored only very poorly - a maximum of two weeks at cool temperatures.
Once you have cut the melon, the countdown starts. Eat it in two days and store it in the refrigerator. Preferably with foil, so that it does not dry out.
Melon is not suitable for freezing. It becomes mushy and tastes anything but good.
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What varieties taste particularly delicious
You surely know the classic from the supermarket: Mega big, green outside and bright red inside. You won't succeed with your melons. The climate is simply too cool for that. But that does nothing for the taste.
There are fruits with yellow, green, red and white interior. The shells can have a light green-dark green pattern or turn out completely dark green.
The most famous and uncomplicated variety for our latitudes is the variety "Sugar baby". The melons grow up to 3 kg and are therefore guaranteed to ripen until it is autumn. Their dark green skin protects the soft red flesh. This melon is not seedless, but this is good because you can take seeds for next year.
Also very tasty tastes "Crispy"The fruit is juicy and has a low seed content. It is grafted onto a robust rootstock - usually pumpkin is used for this purpose. Thus, it is very resistant to soil fungi.
Fancy varieties include "Moon and Stars" with patterned leaves and fruit, "Cream of Saskatchewan" with white flesh, or the Russian variety "Small Shining Light."
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Our conclusion
If you want to plant a watermelon, before that you need to think about the right location. With plenty of sun, water and fertilizer, you can soon harvest the first melons.
Good luck and have fun gardening!
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