I Love Big Melons

and small ones. last year i grew a couple Icebox Crimson Sweet, wow! it was the best watermelon i've ever had.. so i kept the seeds from them.

i have improved the soil with Black Kow, and premium top soil. this year i also added perlite and dolomitic lime to the mix then thoroughly tilled everything about 12" deep.

going to form a slight mound about 12" wide, 10 feet long. thinking i can grow 5 vines here?

does anyone prefer using plastic barrier and buried irrigation to open soil for melons? what about landscape fabric? i spent a LOT of time pulling weeds last year, that's why i ask.


who else loves melons? what are you growing?




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ok, i went ahead an bought some landscape fabric and formed rows. i opted not to bury irrigation and stick with my side trench watering. this makes the roots go deep and worked well last year.

after forming 15 or 16 foot columns approx 10-12 inches high, i rolled the fabric over and secured on the sides. there will be NO WEEDS competing for the resources in the root zone of my melons!!

i cut an X into the fabric every 2 feet or so and put the seeds in then watered.

doing 2 types of watermelons and 1 unknown cantaloupe.

if things go well i'll put some pics up in July.




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i love me some watermelon, although they wont grow in my garden, i swear i just cant get em, although i grow good cantelope every year.

I got big melons, never tried to grow em though. I just stick to flowers and such. Maybe next year I will try my hand at veggies and fruit.

DoobsDay said:

i love me some watermelon, although they wont grow in my garden, i swear i just cant get em, although i grow good cantelope every year.

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for watermelons all you need is good, rich soil that drains decently. if you dump a bag of composted manure out and throw a couple seeds in it you'll get watermelons!

cantaloupe likes loose, sandy soil and i have one small area in my garden that i hope will work for them... this is the first time i've ever tried them so we shall see.



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Chiceh said:

I got big melons, never tried to grow em though. I just stick to flowers and such. Maybe next year I will try my hand at veggies and fruit.

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i'm working my way up to flowers and such, been growing vegs as far back as i can remember.




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7xstall said:

for watermelons all you need is good, rich soil that drains decently. if you dump a bag of composted manure out and throw a couple seeds in it you'll get watermelons!

cantaloupe likes loose, sandy soil and i have one small area in my garden that i hope will work for them... this is the first time i've ever tried them so we shall see.



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yea but its somethin more to it than that, i mean they grow, i just cant get big ol melons, maybe its my curse.

DoobsDay said:

yea but its somethin more to it than that, i mean they grow, i just cant get big ol melons, maybe its my curse.

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they tolerate a wide range of pH so it can't be that. it's got to be the soil. might also be the amount of water they get, farmers say that frequent shallow waterings will make them small where infrequent deep waterings make them bigger.




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yea its the soil, too much clay.

well, here's the watermelon patch last week! it's basically out to the fence now thanks to the rain we've been getting.

i've got 3 almost ripe crimson sweets with several smaller ones coming along.

4 of the big ones will be ripe in a couple weeks, also with several smaller ones.

next year i'll prob plant half as many of each, it's just way too dense in there, can't even see the melons without poking through the vines.

oh, even the cantaloupes that i was told are impossible to grow in my area are doing really well. several of them are going to be ripe over the next few weeks.






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here's the latest bunch from my garden. i don't know how many we've given away and eaten so far but wanted to share a pic of the latest.

was quite surprised by the crop, especially the cantaloupes. a local "master gardener" claimed that they can't be successfully grown in my area.. as you can see, the back left one came out as big as the crimson sweet watermelons!

they sure are good and the timing is just right, the actual high today is around 105!!!






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I love big melons too!

Good job.

congrats on the good grow. my melon plants arent even popping out melons. just flowers. do you know how to get melons? do you need to polinate? they might just be growing too slow. i put them in too much shade. i thought the summer heat would fry them, but its been a mild season. can they live in 105 degree highs? sorry about all the questions. this is my first melon grow.

awww man u tricked me with the title to your thread

This thread got super mega necro bumped

Wow.

Those are nice.

People told me my melons wouldn't do good in my area either,
but they are doing ok I guess....

The cantaloupes are the one not doing so great.

Watermelons are finally starting to get bushy.

Mine don't have melons on them either...but I'm patient...

at least for the next few weeks, and if I don't start seeing something
I'm gonna get irritated. hehe.

i have about 4 watermelon plants that were thriving strong about a week and a half ago. i went out of town and came back yesterday to find very little new growth if any at all, many leave have the brown tint on the bottom halves of them. I will post pictures when i find my camera. the vines have let go of the guides i have placed, and they just look terribly sick.
There are two things i can think of.
1 being my sister didnt water them enough while i was gone.
and 2 being last week i did see multiple ants crawling all over the plant, i figured they wouldnt harm it but who knows. There isnt any bites taken out of the leaves so i dont believe they were eating it. The ants have left the area without me doing anything.
Please any help would be great, i will try and post picture by tonight or tommorow at the latest.

I too love big melons.....