A Plant A Day Till Spring – Day 34 – Watermelon

“Watermelon Blossom – Male” – Summer 2013 – Hamnett Place Community Garden – Wilkinsburg, PA

“A Plant a Day till Spring” will highlight one plant a day, starting on the winter solstice (December 21, 2013)… And ending on the vernal equinox (March 20, 2014)… If all goes to plan I will be starting with old Snowdrop photos from 2013… And ending with new photos of Snowdrops in 2014…

I had originally intended this series to be written ahead of time… Scheduled… And released in series… Kind of like autopilot… Just in this case… Autoblog… A few weeks in I somehow managed to delete a few of them… So I wrote them on the fly… I like these better… So I have trashed the rest of the pre-written ones… I will be writing the rest first thing in the morning… I like the idea that each one is a reflection of a day… It allows me to choose a flower for the day based on my mood… I have been awake since 4:30 AM… I’m on my third cup of coffee… And I would have to describe how I feel right now as “Watermelonesqe”…

There is nothing in the world like a watermelon still warm from the field… Nothing… If you ever get the chance to harvest and immediately eat a watermelon… Take it… You will never be able to eat a store-bought watermelon again… But totally worth it…

Watermelon is a great plant to grow if you have some space… Though the bush varieties will work when space is at a premium… It is also a great “plant and forget” crop… It is also one of the best plants to grow with children because the fruits of their labor will almost always be among their favorite foods…

Watermelon is very easy to grow… Requiring three primary things…

1. Space… Lots of it… Depending on variety… We could be talking 50 square feet… Don’t be stingy… Watermelon requires breathing room because it is susceptible to a plethora of disease and fungi… It is important to not let the plant grow all over itself or others… Air-flow is key…

2. Water – Watermelon is like 90% water… Water requirements are relative to the size of the fruit you intend to grow… As a side note – I have noticed that you can sometimes taste “water based” fertilizers when used on watermelon… Probably best to not use them… Also – Don’t spray the entire plant with water… It just causes problems… Only water the base of the plant… This can be difficult when working with a large patch… In this case use survey flags to mark…

3. Sun/Heat – I am lumping these two together because I feel they go together… Watermelon requires full-sunlight… There are no ifs… Ands… Or buts about it… In the shade the fruit will never develop to the intended size… That is if it ripens at all… Likewise… Watermelon is sweet… The sugars required to make it sweet are reliant on heat… This is the case with most sweet fruits and vegetables…

As I write this I am dreaming of the garden… This year I am growing several varieties of melon… My options – “Bush Sugar Baby”, “Black Diamond”, “Black Diamond Yellow Belly”, and “Charleston Gray” for Watermelon… “Hales Best” Cantaloupe… And “Early Silver Line” Melon again (A small delicious gourmet Asian melon you won’t find at market)… This list will be added to in the next few weeks… That is just the seeds I have on hand at this point of the year… In a couple short months I will be swimming in seeds and plants as is the case every year… I would have it no other way…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

If you want some science – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watermelon

New To writing and never had to cite sources before… These “Plant a Day Till Spring” posts are simply intended to kill time until spring when I start writing more… My source (where applicable) is Wikipedia.org… The photography is all my own… And I am adding my own information…

This website and all of the information presented within is provided free by the author… Me… It is my sole opinion and is not representative of anyone other than myself… Although this website is free… I sell prints of my photography here – www.society6.com/chriscondello – or you can contact me directly with questions at – c.condello@hotmail.com – Although it isn’t a requirement… It helps…

Remember to tip… My Bitcoin digital wallet address is – 1JsKwa3vYgy4LZjNk4YmPEHFJNjPt2wDJj

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Advertisement