As a summer time favorite of mine, watermelon is always high on my list of things to plant each year. I find it much easier to grow watermelons in the area I live in now. The growing season here is much longer than where I used to live in the north. Summers are just too short up there! Here are 5 tips on growing watermelon for you to use this planting season.
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Choose an Appropriate Variety
The growing season on watermelons is different for each variety. If you live in an area where warm weather doesn’t last long, then you might want to opt for a variety of seed that produces melons in a shorter amount of time. There are also different sizes of watermelon too, so be sure to take this into account as well.
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Pick an Open Area for Planting
If you’ve never grown watermelons before, then you should know they need a ton of room. They send out vines that can quickly take over a large area before you realize it. You’ll need to make sure the plants have room enough to spread and won’t end up suffocating each other instead.
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Place Seeds or Small Watermelon Plants in a Large Mound of Dirt
Only two plants should be placed on each hill. If seeds are being planted directly into the soil, then place around 4 seeds in the hill so that you can thin out the weak seedlings and leave the two healthiest.
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Provide Seeds and Plants with Lots of Nutrients
Watermelons are very heavy feeders, meaning they suck lots of nutrients out of the soil. Add compost and manure to the soil a couple of weeks before planting seeds. You can continue to add compost every couple of weeks so that the plants will have a more successful growing season.
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Water Them Well
Watermelons are mostly water, so they need quite a lot of it to grow successfully. It’s best to keep the soil moist at all times. Be sure to check the plants regularly when weather is especially dry. Once the large leaves have appeared, the soil won’t dry out quite as quickly, but it’s still a good idea to check the moisture level each day.
The number of watermelon varieties available today is amazing. There are small round ones, large oval ones that grow to be the size of a border collie, seedless melons, and even ones with yellow flesh inside. They are all tasty! If you plan on growing some watermelons this year, what type of seeds are you looking to purchase?
Top Photo Credit: Maxxbass
