Mam,
If I grow watermelons near the drive way like that, my kids probably crushed them with their cars many moons ago.
Tony
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As of this morning, my friend who came by to get some peaches (we gave ger recipe of upside down peach cake and the peaches) turned on my driveway. I yelled so loud for her to stop. Fortunately, she did. I texted her about where to park but she forgot her phone at home.
Yup. These melons living dangerously 
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Another 10lb Charleston grey. My wife’s favorite
Probably 4-5 melons left before the season ends. Maybe 3-4 more weeks
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Last picture post for me this year. Seedless melons have been more difficult than I had hoped. I had maybe 3 melons to maturity on 10 + planting’s. I also picked this large moon & stars and this 10 lb black diamond. Overall it was a good season. Other than room watermelons are pretty effortless.
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@thecityman,
This is our 2nd largest Crimson Sweet. Picked at 105 days after planting of 55 days after fruit set. It weighed 31.5 lbs. it was excellent both in taste and texture. Hubby said the best watermelon he has ever had!!!
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What’s the yellow one? Yellows are my favorites
Looks perfect!
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I am not just saying this to make you feel good or to be nice…but clearly you are getting the hang of this whole when is it ripe thing. That melon looks like it was picked at the absolute perfect time and it has the absolute perfect appearance inside and out. You should also know that in my experience a 32 pound CS is a very large watermelon for that variety. That melon is just absolutely perfect in every way. Even the most experienced grower would be VERY proud of that guy! I’m so glad you are enjoying and doing well with watermelons.
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I’m a bit surprised by the color of your black diamond. All of my black diamonds for many different years are exactly the same color as your moon and stars but of course without the moon and star part. It is interesting that yours are so much lighter. I almost wonder if your BD seeds had gotten a little something else bred into them, but its probably just different soil, geographic area, and other environmental differences. Anyway, those are some nice melons.
I think it is just that melon. Most of my my black diamonds are dark green like the moon & star
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I think it is called Amarillo
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Amarillo is my favorite seedless yellow.
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Can you compare it to Yellow Doll?
I tried Yellow Doll a couple of times, but it never grew well for me. I dropped it in favor of Yellow Baby which always grew vigorously for me. I prefer Amarillo to Yellow Baby. It is sweeter and has a crisper texture. It is about twice the size at around 15 lbs. In my experience, the seedless watermelons are much more difficult to germinate.
Indeed - VERY much more difficult to germinate!
Thank you, Kevin. I have a beginner’s luck. After 3-4 days of night temp in low 50 and high 40’s, all the vines look beat. I probably will pick all of them in the next couple of weeks. I have two more large Crimson Sweet.
It’s amazing that one plant has produced 5 very large melons, two of them are over 30 lbs. I have experienced growers here to thanks particularly @Mountain_Donkey for his fertilizing schedule and you for advice on soil prep and when to pick them.
thank you very much, i also appreciate you growing my orange glo x white wonder, i think you and @dutch-s have the best examples of this cross i have ever seen and I’m glad you enjoy growing watermelons, I don’t ever see myself not trying to grow as many of the best quality of melons i can now that i have experience with quite a few varieties
I also have a nice list of cantaloupe/honeydew melons too. I’ve grown quite a few of these and have widdled it down to quite a short list due to sweetness, differentiation in flavor and type
For now i can reccomend collective farm woman from burpee and ginkaku melon from kitazawa both white but excellent in sweetness. They are both white but while ginkaku is extremely crisp and sweet the collective farm woman has a grainy pear like texture and an almost golden apple flavor if my memory serves me right
The only melons i will trial in the future are petite gris des rennes, it’s gotten really good reviews
and some green honeydew melons to see which one is the best
I will make a cross of kaho x orangeglo at some point in the future
as well as hime kansen x bingo watermelon
I will be sure to see if you guys want some when they are ready
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Is there a highly regarded guide to growing melons? I ate a melon in Japan that changed my life.
Plant your seeds in well prepared soil, watermelons don’t like hard clay soils and you can change this by ammending leafs into your soil at home. After you’ve prepared your soil make a bowl in the ground about 4 inches wide and 4 inches deep, fill that hole with unfertilized potting soil. put your seeds about 1 to 1 and 1/2 inches deep in that very hole and water in, i start my seeds in water for 24 hours before planting.
Once your watermelon plants are about 2 weeks old top dress with fertilizer, i use plant tone fertilizer in a generous amount, watermelons like alot of fertilizer also topdress or work into the soil a fair amount of diatomaceous earth.
Once your melons set fruit give them another dose of fertilizer. You can choose to water your watermelons with bloom nutrients until 2 weeks before you pick your melon. This step isn’t necessary and if you choose to harvest more than one melon from your plant you should skip it as you don’t want to eat a watermelon with alot of fertilizer in it.
Your watermelon will make two different kinds of flowers male and female, female watermelon flowers look like a flower but with a little watermelon under it. male flowers are more common but don’t produce watermelons instead they pollinate the females and they have a straight stem with no baby watermelon under it in comparison.
After your female watermelon flower gets pollinated start counting days and keep your watermelons well watered until you can pick it. Every watermelon has a different window of ripeness usually depending on size.
Really small watermelons take around 30-32 days. Medium watermelons usually take around 35-36 days. Large ones take 40-42 days and sometimes more. This is when your skill as a gardener and experience really pays off, dont worry if you pick a watermelon under or overripe you will eventually get good at it.
Orangeglo watermelon is the most popular melon that is grown on this forum but i can personally recommend kaho an orange small japanese watermelon
Good luck on your watermelon journey
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Thank you. Can you recommend a guide that includes information beyond the basics? More specifically something that can point me in the right direction towards achieving the quality the Japanese can.
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