Your 2025 Garden

[NanaK]

My watermelons

What kind?

I'm growing Crimson Sweet. I only grow a couple plants.

 

[LaurenRitz]

Watermelons got a late start. Nothing ripening yet. These are a 3rd year proto-landrace, adapting to clay soil, extreme heat, and no culinary water. Currently under woodchip mulch.

They seem to be moving toward long slender melons.

 

[R2elk]

What kind?

I'm growing Crimson Sweet. I only grow a couple plants.

The only one I know for sure is Burpee's Mini Me. The rest are from miscellaneous saved seeds.

The yellow one is obviously from one of the Gold varieties such as Gold in Gold. They come in both yellow and red flesh.

I learned a long time ago to save any seeds from seedless watermelons. All I have grown from those seeds have been short season melons. The flesh may be red or pink but they are good. They may also be round or oblong. Saved seeds from the offspring can be a wide variety.

 

[R2elk]

What kind?

I'm growing Crimson Sweet. I only grow a couple plants.

If I lived in your growing zone, I would grow the big melons such as Charleston Gray.

 

[NanaK]

If I lived in your growing zone, I would grow the big melons such as Charleston Gray.

I have grown Charleston Gray and Carolina Rattlesnake. Both are sweet and get large. Had a few Rattlesnake go over 60 lbs. This was on a vine with lots of room, well fed and fruit thinned to 2 melons per vine. I continued to save seed from the 2 largest to grow the next year. I may still have a few seed in the fridge. I've had good luck with older seed as long as it was stored cool.

Lately I've grown Crimson Sweet because it is sweet, it will fit in the fridge and I can pick them all by myself. Who knows, I may give the big ones a try again and see what I get.

 

[NanaK]

I learned a long time ago to save any seeds from seedless watermelons. All I have grown from those seeds have been short season melons. The flesh may be red or pink but they are good. They may also be round or oblong. Saved seeds from the offspring can be a wide variety.

This is good to know! I've been tempted to give this a try.

 

[jxp]

Good luck with the yellows!

All in one bed I have a couple plants each of pumpkin, butternut squash, watermelon and cantaloupe. The vines all run together. The cantaloupe is always ready first. Have to be careful picking those.
I am seeing die back now in that bed. I will be harvesting pie pumpkins and butternuts soon. 3 more watermelons all most ripe. I've had about 10 cantaloupes. I missed one.

I put 5 sweet potato slips in a row over in the main garden. Oh, my do they vine! I am so glad I did not plant more. I've been able to maintain some control but have to keep at it every 3-4 days. I surely hope there is taters down there.

Root veg harvest always makes me feel like a kid excitedly opening presents at Christmas. Whether it be yams, taters, carrots, turnips, or whatever.

 

[jxp]

I saw a video around a month ago about harvesting watermelon. The lady demonstrated that to know when it's perfectly ripe and ready to enjoy, watch for the little curly Q near the melon to brown up. I'm not growing watermelon but I might watch for that with my cantaloupe.

 

[Sally PB]

I'm very happy with Seed Savers Exchange.

Me too!

I might watch for that with my cantaloupe.

When I grew cantaloupe, I got better, sweeter melons when I did this: About the first weekend in August (right about now), I started culling any melon that was smaller than my fist, and any more that came on. This forced the plant to put its energy into the melons that were on the vine, and they were bigger and sweeter.

Picking the first weekend in August was because I could reliably depend on melons larger than my fist to ripen before the vine died.

 

[R2elk]

I saw a video around a month ago about harvesting watermelon. The lady demonstrated that to know when it's perfectly ripe and ready to enjoy, watch for the little curly Q near the melon to brown up. I'm not growing watermelon but I might watch for that with my cantaloupe.

That is not necessarily accurate.

With most cantaloupe they are ripe when a gentle tug separates the vine from the melon.