Watermelon & Melon Growing 2019

First watermelon of the season.

Charleston Gray. I did not weigh it but guessing around 15-18lbs.

Very good taste, not super sweet, but probably would have sweetened up a bit if I left it sit another 4-5 days since there is no rain in the forecast.

My wife and I both observed that it was much smoother and juicer than store bought and as a bonus, you could eat right to the rind with no loss of melon flavor.

I’m still waiting on my Georgia Rattlesnake to ripen. I may pull one tomorrow to try as they are right around their 90 day mark.

-Jim

9 Likes

Great observation, and great job on the melon! Regarding the flavor, there simply is no comparison between a store-bought seedless and one of these homegrown melons.

4 Likes

I love the look of that desert king. Hard to beat a yellow-flesh melon!

4 Likes

Our first moon and star of the season. It was a volunteer

9 Likes

Sorry for three posts straight. We continue to have a good season this year. Here’s a Raspa we picked the other day. Man, it’s hard to describe how good these things are when chilled. Sweet as candy.

After slicing up the above half melon, we went out to pick some more. Below are a Tendersweet Orange on the left, Moon & Stars in the middle, and Big Stripe on the right. 85 lbs total.

11 Likes

My mostly dead, wilt-afflicted plants did yield one little Kajari melon. A lot smaller than some of the ones that set earlier but which didn’t make it. Perfumed kind of like a “plum granny.” Flavor was surprisingly nice for a melon from highly stressed vines—a very good, sweet little honeydew. And if hadn’t been for the bacterial wilt they would’ve been very productive, too. Bummer.

Anyway, will try again next year. Maybe persistently applying kaolin spray (+ spinosad?) to the plants from the get-go will discourage the cucumber beetles and prevent wilt?

10 Likes

Not ripe yet, but a massive producer and the fruits are pretty from day one.
Tigger Melon

7 Likes

How did the black plastic mulch work for you this year. It looks like you mounded it up down the center. I was wanting to do something like this knowing the melons like this warmed up ground in the spring, but didn’t know if 105 degree weather in July would cook them?

3 Likes

26lb unknown volunteer with some moon & stars in it. A black diamond @ 15 lbs and. 17 lb Georgia rattlesnake.

8 Likes

Hi! New member here. Was reading previous years melon posts and couldn’t believe bad Janosik reports. It’s been our most productive and best tasting melon here in MN. No ripe ones yet this year but soon! Have about 30 of them growing. Also trying Bingo and Crimson Sweet this year. Here are some pics of last years 25 + pound Janosiks. !

8 Likes

9 Likes

10 Likes

It’s very hard to get a Black Diamond to ripen up that’s
less than 20 lbs. Glad you were able to do it. It’s a special
melon.

4 Likes

A picture of the inside of one of my bigger melons. The kids approved

6 Likes

The black plastic worked better than I expected. I think it’s the reason the melons are so much larger this year. Last year, the largest melon was about 22 lbs, and the others all averaged around 14 lbs. This year, I’m averaging between 25 and 30 lbs per melon.

Regarding the temps, once the vines run and cover the plastic, the plastic and the soil underneath won’t get so hot. The black plastic just allows you to get a jump on seed germination and plant growth earlier than normal–in my case nearly a full month earlier than the past two years. Recall, too, that watermelons came from Africa, so they are a hot weather crop.

Regarding the row of mounded soil, I basically applied the raised bed way of gardening and the Square Foot Gardening method to the row. I tilled the row last year and added a cubic yard of compost, some sphagnum moss for water retention, and vermiculite for soil looseness. This year, I added another two cubic yards of compost. So, it’s a raised bed without the box. This year, I also added drip irrigation, which was very nice to have.

3 Likes

Glad to see you finally showed up this year! And those watermelons look great! I was beginning to think you weren’t growing any this year

2 Likes

Thanks for noticing my absence. We got a late start this year, but we should have melons into October

1 Like

Thank you sir, I will definitely be using some weed barrier next year. I will also be adding big stripe to my varieties. I will be keeping crimson sweet, Charleston gray, and jubilee improved. I’m getting rid of black diamond and sangria. Jade star still to be determined.

2 Likes

I will be keeping Jade Star(1st pic), this is definitely a sweet melon in Kansas. The other pic is Jubilee improved, a c

ouple Jade stars, a couple Charleston gray, and a couple crimson sweet. Biggest Charleston gray so far at a little over 30 lbs. A few cantaloupes, ambrosia and sugar cubes.

11 Likes

Janosik. 9.5 lbs. Excellent texture, but only moderately sweet.

Think watermelon quality has been suffering this year because of weather. Has been very dry here since about mid-July, and it’s starting to stress the vines; the melons themselves are on the puny side. Had a couple 40+ pound (and sugar-sweet!) Strawberries last year. Nothing close this year. Don’t have an irrigation set-up, so am probably going to have to hand water tomorrow. Well, at least I’ll get my exercise!

7 Likes