Water melons

[karl struck]

I love to grow anything but water melons get me fired up! Some types are much easier than others to deal with. I always grow my favorite Crimson Sweet! It is an easy melon to grow in that fungus and pest problems are no problem. I think it is the BEST tasting to. Really sweet and firm and not to seedy. Always plant a couple of new types every year. Just for the surprise and hoping to find something that makes me want to repeat growing it.

I grow a few apple trees and do ok with them. The Golden Delicious has produced a few good tasting apples. My best producer is the Granny Smith. It is a small tree but man the apples get big on it. I have a Macintosh but it so far is a disappointment.

[DaveB]

I don't have a garden just now but Charleston Gray has always been my favorite.

I made a note to try Crimson Sweets. Truth is the seed count never bothered me, I always like practicing spitting them in a tin can..

[karl struck]

I'll try the CGs this year, sounds good. Seeds are no problem. I think the seedless are not as tasty. Gonna have to look in the catalog for the Charleston's.

[Moonman]

I've always been a fan of the moon and stars which is like a sugar baby but a little more fleshy.

[karl struck]

Moonman, I tried the moon and stars before. The ones I grew did taste pretty good. Maybe I will try them again. When I grew them it was not in an ideal spot. Have learned since then how to baby the melons more. I know one thing, nothing in the stores comes close to the sweetness you can get out of your own melons!

[DaveB]

Three things:
1. hand pollinate.
2. prune back those melons farthest from the roots
3. try to get the melons up off flat ground, like up on a seed mound. I have used plastic sheeting to keep water away from melons.

I should make note about ground temps but I cannot recall the exact minimum ground temp for seeds. I planted mine in hills, used 3 seeds per hill, planted a new hill every two weeks, pollinated and pruned, kept fruit off the ground. In California I had tons of problems with rodents and snails but a long growing season made life a bit easier.

[Wobblyshot1]

My go to is crimson sweet which seems to always do well. A new one I've tried is Ali Baba. It had good yields and excellent taste.

[DaveB]

Pictures of the Crimson Sweet melons are just a killer, making me drool.

Shelby County has an ag area real close to my house maybe I'll squat on a piece of ground and see what I can make happen. I do love to make things grow.

[karl struck]

My go to is crimson sweet which seems to always do well. A new one I've tried is Ali Baba. It had good yields and excellent taste.

Ok you sold me wobblyshot1. I just ordered some Ali Baba's. Will plant crimson sweet and try moon and stars again. Will always plant crimson sweet every year! Good to know it's your go to also.

[karl struck]

Pictures of the Crimson Sweet melons are just a killer, making me drool.

Shelby County has an ag area real close to my house maybe I'll squat on a piece of ground and see what I can make happen. I do love to make things grow.

Nothing like growing stuff. It is my stress reliever and just fun. Yeah DaveB you should try that ag area.

[Mike Belt]

I've always wondered if growing melons (or any vine growing plants like cantaloupes, squash, cucumbers, etc.) in a vertical fashion instead of horizontally would work in a limited amount of garden space. Plant the hill with randomly placed posts with platforms mounted on top of them. As the melon grows place it on that platform and let it mature while growing there. This would keep it off the ground and away from rodents, snails, and ground rot as well as saving space.

[DaveB]

trellis or supported climbing vines work really well for cantaloupe. Go to dollar store and buy cheap panty hose. cut off leg at top. place fruited 'loupe in toe or heel. Tie up rest of leg so fruit is in a bag-like structure. Use rest of panty to tie to climbing structure. Just for the record, the knit fishnet works great. Long backstory on that.

Watermelon are too heavy. I am thinking right this instant of an existing wood fence (you recall Bamaproud Blackberries?) with new 2x4 cross beams connecting the 4x4 posts. You would need a platform as you outlined because the weight would be too much. And using strictly the round ones would be necessary. I would test strength by filling a 5 gallon bucket with water and seeing if the platform would support it. Fill more than one to determine exact point of fail.

Watermelons use a lot of ground. I tried the varieties that don't vine so much, taste was horrendous. Only caveat to all vine plants is plenty of sun. Note: i used the fancy drip water stuff for my garden, buried it all, works amazingly well.