Growing Watermelon

Growing Watermelon from seed to harvest. Watermelons, botanically classified as Citrullus lanatus, are flowering and fruiting plants belonging to the Cucurbitaceae family. The fruits grow on sprawling vines and usually ripen in 85 to 100 days, but some varieties can take up to 130 days to ripen. The entire Watermelon is edible, including the rind, flesh, and seeds. The flesh of the fruit can range in color from pink, red, white, green, orange, to yellow, depending on the watermelon variety.

Growing Watermelon from Seed

• You can sow the seeds from the beginning of Spring to the beginning of Summer.
• Watermelons grow best on sandy loam soils, with good drainage and a soil pH of between 6.0 and 6.8.
• Soil temperature should be at least 18°C for germination to take place.
• Seeds should be sown in an area that gets full sun.
• Direct sow the seeds 2.5cm deep and 50 – 75cm apart, in soil mounds or ridges.

Maintaining Watermelon Plants

• While melon plants are growing, blooming, and setting fruit, they need 1 to 2 inches of water per week. Keep soil moist, but not waterlogged.
• After plants set fruit, feed twice, at two week intervals, with a water soluble plant food.
• Remove misshapen and blossom-end rot affected fruit to promote additional fruit set and larger growth of the remaining fruit.

Harvesting Watermelon

• Once the tendril at the base of the leaf closest to the fruit is dry and brown, the fruit is ready to be harvested.
• Ripe watermelons also sound deep and resonant when thumped.
• The fruit should be cut from the vine rather than pulled, twisted, or broken off.