I also grew Crimson Sweet a few years ago and Charleston Grey last year. They had little flavor for me. I tried over a dozen varieties and no dice. It’s just not my thing.
The only one that worked out for me was the Lemon Drop. Small, yellow and full of flavor.
ill be trying these this summer. last summer i got 4 i think blacktail mountain off 2 vines on the south side of my house. they werent big , about volley ball size but tasted better than any store bought ive had. enough to make me try to grow some again. going to plant them indoors late april for mid june outside transplant. going to try the black plastic to help increase the temps around them.
I will plant my usuals for watermelon: Mini love,Crimson sweet and Shiny boy. All of them are early enough to get ripe here in zone 6A. I also have Farmers Giant Hybrid, that failed last year, but it was a bad year for melons- none got ripe, they wilted after one good rain and just died. Still not sure, why.
I also want to try again Ogen melon. I planted it many times but got ripe melon only the first time and it was wonderful. So this year I will try it on a new soil, if that wouldn’t help, I will give up on it.
Definitely do black plastic. Keep in mind that some bugs like to hide under plastic and feed on the stems. If you see this happening, use a good pesticide like Pyganic.
I know how much sun I have in a year. Most of the time we have enough rain. I have been amazed by how much I need to amend my soil with compost and fertilizer.
My Crimson Sweet have tasted better than store bought. To me, good watermelon needs to have brix at least 10, very good ones were at 11. Some of my Crimson Sweet had brix at 12 which was amazing.
I’ve had a few watermelons that hit brix 14. When they also have good watermelon flavor, they are memorable. I had one in 1997 that was easily 14. Even today I remember sharing it with friends at work.
@mamuang I have no problem with water. I have a well and irrigation lines. The lower area where I had my watermelon in the past few years probably had too much water, especially when it rained. This caused some of my watermelon to crack.
This year I’m moving them to the side of the garden, where the soil drains better. My garden also receives full sun. One of the things I will do differently this year is start the seeds indoors at the end of April. I typically direct-seeded in mid-May.
@fruitnut thanks - I’ll try that! I have a basic heat mat (not temp controlled) so not sure I can get it that warm but we’ll see. Any benefit to soaking and/or storing in the freezer for a bit before sowing?
You need to amend the soil with bags and bags of composted manure.
I won’t put watermelon seeds in the freezer and I never soaked them before seeding.
@mamuang I unloaded over 10 yards of organic compost over the coarse of the past 4 years in my 900 sq ft garden. I was advised to let the garden digest some of the organic matter, as it was high according to recent soil tests.
I posted the journey of my soil amendment here:
This year I’ll be adding some dry blood and some azomite, along with my usual fertilization program. Soil otherwise is looking good and the vegetables showed it in spades last year.
Watermelon seed freeze exceptionally well so long as storage requirements are met. They must be fully dry meaning less than 5% moisture. It helps if there is a silica gel pack to absorb moisture. They should be in a sealed container, preferably glass that won’t permit oxygen to enter. I’ve had watermelon seed stored for 10 years that will still germinate at least 50% today. I don’t recommend storing this long. 5 years is about as long as I normally keep watermelon seed.
In the interesting trivia department, I grew out and saved seed from Anne Arundel melon from 8 year old seed back about 2010. Why? Glenn Drowns reported that all the seed he could locate was crossed, no longer producing true to type melons. Those seed stored in my freezer produced 4 viable plants that were true to type Anne Arundel melons. Since then, Glenn distributed seed and got it into a few seed banks for long term storage. Once in a blue moon, having some seed in long term storage winds up being the way a really good variety gets back into circulation.
i have all my seed stored this way and have had similar long term results. i put a o2 tab and moisture tab to pull any moisture away from the seeds.
I dunno, it’s been pretty cost effective for me. 2x 6 packs of ‘yellow baby’ run me less than $10. They always come 2 per cell, giving me 24 plants. Last year I harvested around 70 melons averaging around 10 lbs./ . I grew them in an area about 30x40, which wound up being a little tight. Let’s just say I learned to dance while harvesting. Coyotes took about 30 melons toward the end of the season. 10 in only one night!
Variety-wise, say what you will, I’ve had really good luck with ‘yellow baby’. It’s supposed to be a hybrid, though I don’t know if it truly is. I had been growing ‘Blacktail Mt.’ & ‘Cream of Saskatchewan’ too, but the yellow babies seemed superior in lots of ways- earliness, size, seediness, thin rind. I like the flavor of all 3, but have just defaulted to growing 24 yellow baby anymore. I’m starting some ‘Orangelo’ this year, though. With a long awaited porch and high tunnel, I’m better situated for growing out starts. It sounds like a yummy one and good performer.
Bandits. Amazing how much they could pack away. I found a number 10-12 lb melons with teeth marks as much as 150 ft away, which was also pretty shocking.
Deer, coyotes, and sometimes dogs will eat watermelons. Crows are the worst. The stereotypical scarecrow was made to keep them out of the watermelons.
I’ve had good luck in Vermont, and Boston is a good deal warmer than here. With ample asphalt and buildings, you have the makings of some really advantageous microclimates. Stick to smaller melons that ripen when you have heat, use black plastic, and choose your site carefully. I harvest ‘yellow baby’, my go to variety these last few years, starting around the 1st of August.
I’ll be sure and tell my wife, who is not always fond of my propensity to cache seeds. She compares me to a squirrel at times.
I grew at least 10 different of the yellow and orange-fleshed varieties over many years at my 20x60ft space at the community garden (and a few white and a couple red ones as well).
Definitely will put a vote for OrangeGlo and Yellow Moon & Stars as standouts.
When I tasted all the watermelons, at peak ripeness you pretty much get what you imagine watermelons should taste like with not much variation, like a sweet perfect melon flavor… but with some of these 2 (but not all), I had some really flavorful ones. OrangeGlo has such a thin rind so you can eat very close to the edge :). Hence why you don’t see it transported since it’ll crack easily is what i heard (although I see it at the Amish Farmers Markets if you are willing to drive an hour or 2 from my area to pickup 
).
Here is a pic of a harvest a few years ago:
and here was the plot, i think I had 15 large ‘raised watermelon mounds’, with 3-4 plants of a different variety in each one (surrounded by 35-40 peppers along the fenceline too). Black plastic with holes cut out for each plant:
Janosik watermelon was also kinda interesting, as it was the only small icebox type yellow I had growing.
I also tried lots of interesting musk melons, but the insects or disease would eventually get them. I usually would try to put that powder ‘Surround’ maybe it was called to deter whatever was eating them which helped at least get a fruit or 2.
Rocky Ford aka Edens Gem was my fave. Had a slight nutmeg or cinnamon flavor maybe.
Its fun seeing you talk about watermelons these days…you sound like a real watermelon professional! Seriously! I agree with every single thing you said in that post except that Black Diamond does work pretty well for me but no doubt that is the climate difference- which is pretty big between our locations. Otherwise, you nailed every bit of that!
The grasshopper has become the teacher! ha
