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Nothing like a piece of watermelon for an afternoon snack. I went out and bought some Jubilee watermelon seed, just had to have some. Anyone ever heard of a Tiger Melon or an Oriental Melon Golden Loner (I believe is the last word). I have a few of those seeds I plan to plant as well. I think they are small cantelope type. I also have some cantelope seeds I saved from last year that volunteered in the garden. The cantelope measured 27 inches around. Plan to plant some of those while I am at it.
A tad off subject here, but could I grow cantalopes(spelling sorry) in a flower bed that is on a slope? There is wood chip mulch in the flower bed, it receives late morning and afternoon sun. My veggie bed is packed!
Jen watermelons as well as cantelopes take a lot of room to grow. They don't like to be crowded. You need to plant either at least 3 feet apart to give room. If your bed is very fertile you could plant a little closer. I can send you a few seeds if you want to try them. Send me a PM, I had a volunteer last year that I saved seeds from. It was delicous and huge. It measured 27 inches around.
Dale, Thank you for the offer but I actually have to many melon seeds and am not sure where to go with them. Chances of DH getting anouther bed ready for me before it snows, lol, doubt its gonna happen! I did find that all but one of my cuke plants died, so I can get a few in there, just have to decide which I want the most! I have: Pride of Wisconson Cantelope, Yellow Canary Melon, Rocky Ford Melon, Yellow Flesh Black Diamond Watermelon and Moon and Stars Watermelon. Oh how will I ever choose!
The only name that I am familiar with there is the Rocky Ford. My Dad used to plant those in his gardens. They did well, but he was in tha Sacramento Valley of California and melons do very well there.
Moon and Stars is one of my favorite watermelons. The taste is good but I just love those yellow dots on the leaves and on the watermelon itself. I am planting some of those myself this year.
The only name that I am familiar with there is the Rocky Ford. My Dad used to plant those in his gardens. They did well, but he was in tha Sacramento Valley of California and melons do very well there.
Jen, as Dale said.. melons take a lot of room to grow but as far as sun ... melons can tolerate full sun. We plant them in an open field and the temps get close to 100 during mid summer. The leaves of the plant helps to shade the melons a bit as they grow.
When Dewey plows the watermelons for the last time,to shade our watermelons we broadcast field peas and rake into the soil. We get the peas to eat as well as the water melons.
I am working on hubby for another bed. I didn't have room for corn either, so hoping by this weekend I will have room for those melons! I did put out just a few of the Rocky Ford and Pride of Wisconsin. In the veggie bed. Had a patch of flowers that get tall, so if they end up needing to come out so I can have some melons then so be it! Then some replaced the dead cukes. They didn't do good for me last year anyway, lol, makin excuses. Just have to have those melons!
Kim, one thing I have to say about California (and Oregon) though is that we know that it will not rain sufficiently during the dry months to grow crops. Therefore, irrigation is a part of our process. In other parts of the country, there is much more dependence on natural irrigation which isn't nearly as reliable. So we can pretty well count of getting some good stuff out of the gardens regardless of the weather, within reason of course.
I have been doing much research on growing tips for watermelons. Didn't realize that China is the largest melon and cantelope producers in the world. USA is ranked fourth. I can't even imagine how many watermelons China grows for us to be fourth.
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