Growing Watermelon in my Suburban Garden
Growing watermelon in the city is worth your time and effort. If you are thirsty and most likely dehydrated, watermelon is a refreshing fruit to restore the water you need. The price of a fully developed over 6 kg watermelon is good motivation to grow watermelon at home so I can save cash on buying fruits. Furthermore, the heat down here calls for watermelon fruit every other day. Who wouldn’t want to grow watermelon for vitamin C?
There are two common watermelon varieties down here, including the Crimson Sweet and Sugar Baby. I want to grow both, but I will start with the Crimson Sweet.
How long does it take for watermelon seed to germinate?
I started the seeds, and they all germinated, as you see below. My watermelon seeds germinated in 5 days. What makes watermelon seeds germinate faster? Bear in mind that here we have high temperatures so there is faster germination of seeds. The warmer the temperatures when you are starting your watermelon seeds, the faster you will see successful germination. The seedlings have a striking resemblance to zucchini, cucumber and pumpkins during the first two weeks after germination.
You could easily confuse the watermelon seedlings if you didn’t label your containers. But, as they continue growing and developing the true leaves you now get to see a different pattern for the watermelon seedlings. The young leaves are lobed and the veins are more pronounced compared to cucumber seedlings. Also, you get to see the heart shape in addition to three up to seven lobes on every growing leaf.
What are the pests that attack watermelon plants?
When I chose to grow watermelon in my garden, I knew there is a chance of my watermelon plant getting pest attack. Top on the list was red spider mite. The moment I saw some webbing on my plants and the leaves yellowing, I knew there is spider mite on watermelons in my garden. I sprayed my watermelon plants with my organic pest solution to get rid of that attack. Other pests that attack growing watermelon plants include Cucumber Beetles, Thrips, Cabbage Loopers, Leafminer flies, and Flea Beetles.
What is the best treatment for Powdery Mildew when growing watermelon at home?
As for diseases that attack growing watermelon plants, watch out for Downey and Powdery Mildew that appear as white blotches on the leaves. Once the disease attack is widespread on your growing watermelon in the garden, it becomes harder to control sit. To prevent attack on my plants, I sprayed them with bicarbonate of soda or Baking soda solution as a prevention measure.
When does fruiting and flowering occur in growing watermelon plants?
Eight weeks in, my watermelon plants went into flowering. During watermelon fruiting and flowering, the plants need a higher supply of useful nutrient including potassium and phosphorus. Earlier on, before I started my seedlings, I started brewing my organic fertilizer solution to help me supply useful nutrients to my plants.
What is the best fertilizer for fruiting watermelon plants in the garden?
Using my organic fertilizer drink was beneficial because my watermelon plant flowered beautifully. Is DAP good for watermelon? Yes you can use synthetic formulation to provide Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) rich in nitrogen but to cut on cost, I use available organic resources. When growing watermelon in your garden, provide mature compost and manure for plant establishment. This organic nutrient supply is sufficient to offer the nitrogen needs for the plant to develop good foliage. But, later on your growing watermelon will need Potassium and Phosphorus in higher amounts compared to Nitrogen in order to encourage vibrant emergence of flowers and fruit development.
How do you induce female flowers in watermelon?
I noted my watermelon vine had more male flowers compared to female flowers. Must be the way nature designed it so that bees visit many male flowers and finally when they land in a female flower they can rub of sufficient pollen to ensure complete pollination. Pollination is a big challenge when you are gardening in drought. I’ve got more to share with you about incomplete pollination in a different post. The bees did their job and my female flowers were fertilized.
How do you increase the size of a watermelon fruit?
If your female flowers are fertilized, you will see the bottom starting to swell as they develop your sweet watermelon fruits. This is the most interesting part when you grow watermelon in your garden. The tiny watermelon fruit will develop so fast within a month it will look like magic. Because of gardening in drought, I had a challenge with water. During this crucial last stage, try to give you plant good watering so that the fruit can grow well. Take care not to overwater watermelon plant because it will split or burst into two. Maintain the soil moisture by giving your growing watermelon plants deep watering once or twice per week.
How do I know when watermelon is ready to pick?
When you grow watermelon, you can expect to enjoy fruits after ninety days. But you must be asking how do I know watermelon is ready to harvest?
A few pointers can tell you it’s time to harvest watermelon. If you leave it or too long on the vine yet it’s ready for harvest, your watermelons will become mushy. It will get soft inside and it won’t be easy to slice the watermelon into pieces or beautiful shapes.
Does watermelon ripen off the vine?
No. Don’t pick your watermelon too early because it will not ripen off the vine like tomatoes.
One, when your watermelon is ready for harvest, the lower side of the fruit lying on the ground will turn to a lighter yellow color. Two, when you tap ripe watermelon fruit, it produces a hollow sound. Thirdly, you will notice the tip of the attaching vine drying up.
I harvested my watermelon on my birthday. And Oh boy! Was it not sweet and refreshing to bite into the large pieces? It didn’t get to a super big size but it was ripe and ready for consumption!