Hey guys, William here, if i haven’t met you nice to meet you!
out of request here is the Watermelon growing and Melon growing thread of 2018
i will start it out by saying which watermelons i am growing and keep you updated with the results in spring
as far as watermelons i am growing
Strawberry Watermelon (deep red fleshed)
Orangeglo X White Wonder ( a cross i made myself), I predict these will be oblong medium sized with white flesh, being that white flesh is epistatic to other colors, epistatic meaning asserting dominance over genes that may be dominant over others.
Hime Kansen (japanese icebox type)
And Gold in Gold(a gold fleshed gold skinned cultivar)
I am also growing regular Melons
kyrgyzstan melons
zapotillo melons
ineya melons
petite gris de rennes melons
and old israeli melons
please let us know what you are growing in 2018 and keep us updated with the results
1 Like
Picked up some Charleston Gray seeds today… from Lowe’s of all places. Some folks on this forum have said Charleston Gray often surprises by ripening watermelons quicker than expected (a good thing for shorter seasons or areas with only partial sun).
For 2018, I now have seeds for:
Blacktail Mountain (71 days)
Diana (76)
Crimson Sweet (85)
Charleston Gray (87… perhaps earlier)
Georgia Rattlesnake (90)
Jubilee (95)
Yeah… I’ve done gone crazy.
4 Likes
These are Watermelons and canteloupe/honeydew type melons I thought this thread would be nice to have both
From top left
Hime Kansen Watermelon- kitazawa seeds, a red fleshed japanese icebox type
Strawberry Watermelon- southern exposure, a deep red fleshed oblong
Old Israeli Melon- heirloom seeds, a white heirloom melon from israel
Gold in Gold Watermelon-jung seed, yellow fleshed yellow rind all american selections winner 2017
Zapotillo Melon-seed zoo, a white fleshed melon from ecuador
From bottom left
Bingo Watermelon-rareseeds, a red fleshed polish heirloom
Kyrgyzstan Melon-rareseeds, a kyrgyzstani heirloom
Ineya Melon-rareseeds, a white fleshed variety from soviet union
Petite Gris de Rennes Melon-rareseeds, a orange fleshed variety from france
Orangeglo X White Wonder Watermelon-my own hybrid seeds, a hybrid of a orange fleshed and white fleshed variety
1 Like
Although I haven’t ordered seed yet, I plan to try these:
•Gold Strike
•Big Stripe
•maybe Verona Black Diamond or Greystone
I only have room for about 10 plants total. I’d like to plant OrangeGlo again. The five we harvested this year were phenomenal.
I’m forgoing Blacktail Mountain because it’s not worth it sacrificing substantially larger fruit of a different variety just to have melons two weeks earlier.
If I can, I’ll try to make a mini-greenhouse on one of my raised beds to start some watermelons earlier.
Hmmm. Maybe I’ll just give up having a lawn and plant watermelons over my whole yard.
2 Likes
the watermelons will be going on the lawn this year although not all of it
Baker Creek has a crazy looking crookneck watermelon for the 2018 growing season. I don’t know if it’s worth growing, but it’s got a good story anyway. https://www.rareseeds.com/art-combes-amazing-ancient-watermelon/
1 Like
wow that makes it alot easier to cary or throw at somebody
would love to see how these taste, im out of money so i guess someone else will have to try
1 Like
here’s one a want but will never have because i can not buy any more seeds
looks super sweet and its small. So cute!
https://www.rareseeds.com/kaho-watermelon-/
Seriously? OK if you PM me I will send you some seeds when I get them. This sounds like something that must be grown and tried.
Wondering if anyone else has tried it.
have you already bought them Anne?
because if you have’nt i am planning on making another baker creek purchase this spring.
Thank you for your generosity
Okay so i bought the Kaho Watermelon
and i also got the rare
Kiku Chrysanthemum Melon
reportedly flavored with notes of greek yogurt and lychee
I’m updating from my post above from 3 months ago, having now finally placed my watermelon seed order.
I will be planting the following:
–Gold Strike, from Wilhite’s
–Raspa, from Wilhite’s
–Legacy, from Wilhite’s
–Big Stripe, from Wilhite’s
–Orangeglo, leftover seed from last year that came from Fedco
I don’t have quite enough space in the raise beds I used last year for 10 plants, so I’ll get creative this year.
Do any of you have any secrets to getting a head start on watermelons? I was thinking of putting landscape fabric over the raised beds from mid-March to late April, and then planting around late April, when the last frost date around here usually occurs.
1 Like
I am a couple hours south of you. How big were your raised beds? I grew watermelons in raised beds for the first time last year and had a banner year. Most of what I got were Crimson Sweets, a few Georgia Rattle Snake and few Congo. I really didn’t see much difference in the varieties as far as taste goes.
We will try starting a few indoors in peat containers, maybe a few in a raised container with an old glass window pane covering it. I am not sure if the window pane will allow the soil to be heated like the black landscape fabric.
We can usually plant in mid-April. Last year my father planted 2nd week of April and I planted 3rd week. There is still some risk of frost but it is minimal.
This year I will stagger the plantings - some starting in mid April then more each week through the first week of May.
2 Likes
Good info! The two beds I used last year are each 3x8 on the internal dimension. I didn’t plant till the 3rd week of May because it seemed like it was a cool, wet spring. I put five plants of Blacktail Mountain in one bed and five of OrangeGlo in the other. About 6 of the 10 plants were started inside the house a few weeks earlier. We yielded about 8-9 BtM and 5 OG, plus another couple that didn’t make it.
This year I may try covering the beds in landscape fabric to heat the soil up quicker and then I might fabricate my own wall o’ water to keep the plants warm and protected from frost. Lastly, I plan to stagger plantings as you are doing. Of course, all these plans could be way-laid but I have high hopes!
1 Like
good stuff here guys, my updated growing list includes
watermelons:
orangeglo x white wonder
gold in gold
bingo
kaho
Melons:
kiku chyrsanthemum
tam dew
ineya
petite gris de rennes
torpeda de uzbekistan
zapotillo
check em out if you want to learn more
or you can stay tuned and i’ll show you
already having visions of seedlings coming up in spring and looking forward to eating melons everytime i go to my moms house
Petite gris is a winner I planted 3 last summer and harvested over 25 melons. Incredibly juicy, sweet and a beautiful colour. We have been drinking petite gris melon smoothies this winter.
That was a good yield on your watermelon. I planted two beds, one was a 30 inch by 8ft bed, another was a 4 ft x 4ft bed that was shared with a young apple tree. I built quite a few new beds this year so I can try more varieties. I order these from Baker -
Ginger’s Pride Melon
Navajo Winter Watermelon
Carolina Cross 180 Watermelon
Ali Baba Watermelon
Sweet Dakota Rose Watermelon
Navajo Red Watermelon
I will plant Crimson Sweet again but those I buy at the General Dollar for 20 cents a pack.
1 Like
Anyone grow watermelons using unprocessed manure? I have some horse manure that is at least 3 years old - any harm using that straight in raised containers? Last year I used processed manure mixed with reg soil (about 50/50) and had great results.
