Hello Helpful Gardener,
I have been working on setting up my patio garden. With this post I hope to share with you what I am creating and also reach out to the community for some beginners advice. Hopefully this post is not too cliche around here.
I have a 3ft high solid wall blocking light which creates an additional obstacle to overcome. The patio faces SE and gets about 6hrs of direct sunlight per day
I have used shelving to support containers above this wall obstacle to reach the light. One of the plants I am growing is watermelons. I just transplanted into a 5 gallon bucket 50/50 soil & perlite ( like all my plants ). My soil has no pre-added fertz.
I am going to attempt to utilize a trellis to form a canopy of foliage in sight of the sun, then I will try to train the vines down to the plastic shelving and floor below where the fruit(s) will hopefully grow. Has anyone been successful with something like this? Should I cut off fruits as they form, to keep the vine vegging so I can reach the shelving?
[img]https://img168.imageshack.us/img168/2044/1001437e.jpg[/img]
[img]https://img137.imageshack.us/img137/3770/1001438m.jpg[/img]
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applestar
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- Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)
Wow, watermelon in a container? I'd be curious to see how well this works. 5 gal bucket seems a bit small for it though. People grow bush variety summer squash in 1/2 barrels, I believe. Is your watermelon a small-fruited variety? (Caveat: I avoid growing in containers if at all possible because I'm terrible about watering)
I would add compost to your soil mix. Watermelons need rich soil when growing in the ground. You can just mulch with a couple inch layer on top of the existing soil.
Another idea is to set up additional containers and bury the leaf nodes of the vines here and there so they can set down supplementary roots like they do when growing on the ground.
I would add compost to your soil mix. Watermelons need rich soil when growing in the ground. You can just mulch with a couple inch layer on top of the existing soil.
Another idea is to set up additional containers and bury the leaf nodes of the vines here and there so they can set down supplementary roots like they do when growing on the ground.
thanks for the advice
Sp8 by reflectors what do you mean, like mylar my porch? lol Don't know if that's gonna happen
applestar, that is a good idea I seem to remember reading the people who grow prize watermelons doing that, burying it 5 or 6 times and clipping off all the fruit except 1, so the massive plants and root systems put all their effort into that one fruit. If the plant looks like its going to thrive I will get a second bucket. The guy at home depot told me oh yeah it'll grow fine in a 5 gallon bucket, but yeah I have seen a big plant in person and it would make sense to have multiple buckets. If it gets anywhere near as big as the one I saw, I could probably put a rubbermaid box of soil in the corner and let it grow in that too. THe biggest problem is "boosting" it up to the sun's level, that limits the amount of weight I can use in soil, if I make it grow a canopy in the sun, do you think I will be able to have the fruit & rest of plant in the shade or is it going to keep trying to put out fruit in the actual "canopy" ( I will weave the vines in and out of the trellis before letting them take over the rest of my patio )
I was actually in line at the checkout with a mango tree before I realized they can use up to 125' of space or horizontal growth alone, needless to say I put that one back ( which is why I got the watermelon instead hah )
I would love to set up a compost bin but I don't really want my neighbors to complain about smells of rotting egg shells, there is a nursery down the street that just ordered me a bunch of perlite ( home depot and lowes stopped selling the big bags? ), she uses big 100lb bags to mix her own soils, I will ask and see if she has compost bins and if she can bag some up if she does.
If not what is a good NPK & ppm for a salt based fertilizer for the watermelons?
Ok and I have another problem sort of, every week it rains inches, every time I go out and my plants look hungry the pots are very heavy which means the bottom roots are going to be under water, I might have to go get some 5 gallon bucket lids, cut some slits and slide them around the stem, so I can provide my own watering schedule instead of letting the rain do it. ( Especially for the baby pepper plants ) I think all the rain from my roof runs off edge and splashes in so my porch is actually getting more water then it would otherwise. Either that or I will sprinkle some fertilizer pellets so the rain is not washing away the food I give them
Sp8 by reflectors what do you mean, like mylar my porch? lol Don't know if that's gonna happen
applestar, that is a good idea I seem to remember reading the people who grow prize watermelons doing that, burying it 5 or 6 times and clipping off all the fruit except 1, so the massive plants and root systems put all their effort into that one fruit. If the plant looks like its going to thrive I will get a second bucket. The guy at home depot told me oh yeah it'll grow fine in a 5 gallon bucket, but yeah I have seen a big plant in person and it would make sense to have multiple buckets. If it gets anywhere near as big as the one I saw, I could probably put a rubbermaid box of soil in the corner and let it grow in that too. THe biggest problem is "boosting" it up to the sun's level, that limits the amount of weight I can use in soil, if I make it grow a canopy in the sun, do you think I will be able to have the fruit & rest of plant in the shade or is it going to keep trying to put out fruit in the actual "canopy" ( I will weave the vines in and out of the trellis before letting them take over the rest of my patio )
I was actually in line at the checkout with a mango tree before I realized they can use up to 125' of space or horizontal growth alone, needless to say I put that one back ( which is why I got the watermelon instead hah )
I would love to set up a compost bin but I don't really want my neighbors to complain about smells of rotting egg shells, there is a nursery down the street that just ordered me a bunch of perlite ( home depot and lowes stopped selling the big bags? ), she uses big 100lb bags to mix her own soils, I will ask and see if she has compost bins and if she can bag some up if she does.
If not what is a good NPK & ppm for a salt based fertilizer for the watermelons?
Ok and I have another problem sort of, every week it rains inches, every time I go out and my plants look hungry the pots are very heavy which means the bottom roots are going to be under water, I might have to go get some 5 gallon bucket lids, cut some slits and slide them around the stem, so I can provide my own watering schedule instead of letting the rain do it. ( Especially for the baby pepper plants ) I think all the rain from my roof runs off edge and splashes in so my porch is actually getting more water then it would otherwise. Either that or I will sprinkle some fertilizer pellets so the rain is not washing away the food I give them
No idea what mylar is but what I meant was put something on your porch that will catch and reflect the sun. A second hand full length mirror well placed can make a huge difference.jshpro2 wrote:
Sp8 by reflectors what do you mean, like mylar my porch? lol Don't know if that's gonna happen
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18558jshpro2 wrote:Ok and I have another problem sort of, every week it rains inches, every time I go out and my plants look hungry the pots are very heavy which means the bottom roots are going to be under water, I might have to go get some 5 gallon bucket lids, cut some slits and slide them around the stem, so I can provide my own watering schedule instead of letting the rain do it. ( Especially for the baby pepper plants ) I think all the rain from my roof runs off edge and splashes in so my porch is actually getting more water then it would otherwise. Either that or I will sprinkle some fertilizer pellets so the rain is not washing away the food I give them
If you don't provide good drainage in your containers then you will end up with inches of anoxic mud at the bottom which isn't very good for much besides stinking the place out.
Having rain as the keystone to your container watering regime is a BAD idea.
You'll end up having a bunch of problems from: over-watering, under-watering, irregular-watering, exposed roots and the ensuing mess splashed soil makes on you balcony.
Your watering regime needs to be consistent and modified for every single container that you have and the size and type of plant you have in it. Some of my plants in the same sized containers go through anywhere between 500mls - 8L of water per day.
Yes it does, the problem is the Roofline does an L right by the patio, its hard to explain but in the corner there the gutter has all the rain splashing off this surface right near the patio and from that splash its getting up all over my patio, heh
anyways the watermelons starting putting out what looks like little flowers? Should I chop these off until the vine reaches a stable surface to support fruit set?
anyways the watermelons starting putting out what looks like little flowers? Should I chop these off until the vine reaches a stable surface to support fruit set?