MrDeadPlant
Full Member
Posts: 17
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2011 5:37 pm
Location: New Philadelphia, Ohio

Watermelons! First Timer!

I frequent this site quite a bit and read up on things. Very Informative site!

This is my First year as a gardener and even though I have had my problems with stuff, I am having some success!

Some Information about my garden
1) 10' x 25' (3.05 meters x 7.62 meters)
2) Took a shovel and turned over the dirt in the back yard. Removed the grass clumps. Spaded the whole garden 4 times removing large rocks and foreign matter(I don't have a tiller). Added 12 (30 gallon bags) of chopped leaves before winter.
3) Seeds bought from Sand Hill Preservation Center. (did not use transplant seedlings, I just planted them in the ground)
4) Dried Blood Fertilizer and Kelp Meal (Espoma Brand) used.
5) Use leaves as mulch.

Mainly my garden was supposed to be a watermelon patch. I love watermelon! It's the most amazing fruit ever. I was talked into planting other things though.

I did research on stuff before I planted. I gave enough space for everything(except the watermelons, I didnt know what to expect LOL) and planted at the correct depth. Some plants didn't come up. Like I said , I have had some problems. All a learning process!

I am very proud of my watermelon vines though! Here are some delightful pictures taken 4 days ago. My cucumber vine and watermelon vine are kind of getting mixed up a bit LOL.

The variety of watermelon is Cherokee Moon and Stars but I think the seed people had some mixing of the seeds. Moon and stars are supposed to have yellow spots all over them and 1/2 of mine do not. They look like a totally different kind. Nine vines total.

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/Purple73/WatermelonPatch1.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/Purple73/006.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/Purple73/004.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/Purple73/005.jpg[/img]

mmmfloorpie
Senior Member
Posts: 107
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 8:21 pm
Location: Ontario Canada

MrDeadPlant wrote:I frequent this site quite a bit and read up on things. Very Informative site!

This is my First year as a gardener and even though I have had my problems with stuff, I am having some success!

Some Information about my garden
1) 10' x 25' (3.05 meters x 7.62 meters)
2) Took a shovel and turned over the dirt in the back yard. Removed the grass clumps. Spaded the whole garden 4 times removing large rocks and foreign matter(I don't have a tiller). Added 12 (30 gallon bags) of chopped leaves before winter.
3) Seeds bought from Sand Hill Preservation Center. (did not use transplant seedlings, I just planted them in the ground)
4) Dried Blood Fertilizer and Kelp Meal (Espoma Brand) used.
5) Use leaves as mulch.

Mainly my garden was supposed to be a watermelon patch. I love watermelon! It's the most amazing fruit ever. I was talked into planting other things though.

I did research on stuff before I planted. I gave enough space for everything(except the watermelons, I didnt know what to expect LOL) and planted at the correct depth. Some plants didn't come up. Like I said , I have had some problems. All a learning process!

I am very proud of my watermelon vines though! Here are some delightful pictures taken 4 days ago. My cucumber vine and watermelon vine are kind of getting mixed up a bit LOL.

The variety of watermelon is Cherokee Moon and Stars but I think the seed people had some mixing of the seeds. Moon and stars are supposed to have yellow spots all over them and 1/2 of mine do not. They look like a totally different kind. Nine vines total.

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/Purple73/WatermelonPatch1.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/Purple73/006.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/Purple73/004.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/Purple73/005.jpg[/img]
Welcome aboard! I'm new here too...

Here's what my watermelon looks like!:

[url]https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=215076#215076[/url]

It actually looks a lot like yours (even with the cantaloupe plant nearby). My fruit aren't any bigger than yours either! I'm a afraid our growing season won't be long enough to get a ripe melon :(

My loupes are doing AMAZINGLY though!

Next year you might want to think about raised beds. I did them (with lots of sand) and my melons really love it.
Last edited by mmmfloorpie on Thu Jul 21, 2011 5:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

MrDeadPlant
Full Member
Posts: 17
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2011 5:37 pm
Location: New Philadelphia, Ohio

A bit of an update since I posted the above pictures. My melons seem to be doing great. They are getting larger and I'm finding more and more of them. One thing I notice though, the vines are starting to get really thick and I'm seeing a very small bit of fungus on the dirt. I suspect I'm not getting good airflow through the vines. With it being dog days here in NE Ohio we don't get alot of wind so this could be a contributer?

Here are the Current pics as of 7-20-11. I'm finding more and more melons as I comb through the vine. simply amazing how thick these vines get. I watch out for health and bugs quite a bit. I don't have bugs and they seem very healthy. Thanks for looking! (the large watermelon is the same watermelon in the first pic above)

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/Purple73/001.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/Purple73/002.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/Purple73/003.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/Purple73/004-1.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/Purple73/005-1.jpg[/img]

MrDeadPlant
Full Member
Posts: 17
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2011 5:37 pm
Location: New Philadelphia, Ohio

I picked my Melons and shot pictures of what I got. I had 11 melons on the vines. 1 didn't make it because it split open on me. 4 were not ripe. these 6 is what I ended up with. I think I did well on my first time.

These 3 were my largest melons. The type is Cherokee Moon and Stars.

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/Purple73/WatermelonWhole.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/Purple73/Cut1.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/Purple73/Cut2.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/Purple73/Cut3.jpg[/img]

These melons were smaller but they sounded good to me so I cut them.

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/Purple73/Cut4.jpg[/img]

Thanks for looking! I totally enjoyed growing these. Being my first time I would say It was success!

Chris

garudamon11
Senior Member
Posts: 105
Joined: Thu Sep 01, 2011 5:33 am
Location: Sharjah, UAE

Thats very nice! I raised a watermelon plant once when I had a garden but the stupid gardener killed it :evil:



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