Growing Watermelon

Cucurbitaceae c. lanatus : Cucurbitaceae / the gourd family

Apr	May	Jun
S	S
	T	T
	P	P

(Best months for growing Watermelon in USA - Zone 5a regions)

S = Plant undercover in seed trays
T = Plant out (transplant) seedlings
P = Sow seed

Grow in seed trays, and plant out in 4-6 weeks. Sow seed at a depth approximately three times the diameter of the seed. Best planted at soil temperatures between 21°C and 35°C. (Show °F/in)
Space plants: 60 - 75 cm apart
Harvest in 12-17 weeks.
Compatible with (can grow beside): Sweetcorn, Sunflowers
Avoid growing close to: Potatoes

Your comments and tips

18 Nov 19, Another gardener (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Any reasonable soil just not heavy clay soil. In the sun and any general vegie fert. If you prepare your soil well before planting by adding compost, manures, organic fert, inorganic fert, then that is enough to grow the crop. I have never used any of these soil enhancing products. If you grow pretty good crops without them why waste money putting all that stuff on.
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06 Nov 19, Imran Mbongzee (South Africa - Summer rainfall climate): Hello please can I plant watermelon in December am in jhb
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12 Nov 19, Another gardener (South Africa - Summer rainfall climate): Hi I'M from Australia. I comment on Aust and NZ Gardenate questions. This website tells you when to plant and provides information about growing the crop. If there is not enough info here go onto GOOGLE and search. Check the calendar about when to plant - it is that simple. Or find a plant on the Vegetables and herbs tab. (Find your zone on the Climate zone tab, then make sure that is showing at the top of the plant page to get the correct information for your area)
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04 Nov 19, (Australia - sub-tropical climate): What fertiliser do you use and where do you put it. Also how often do you water?
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05 Nov 19, (Australia - sub-tropical climate): It is best to prepare your soil and add the fertiliser (compost, manures, in-organic fert , organic fert) when preparing it unless you want to use these soil enhancers that have very little NPK.
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05 Nov 19, anon (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Most veges just need an all round fertiliser. Leafy veges a bit more N, fruity/root veges a bit more P/ K. Read up about what N P K does in the soil. that will determine what you put on. But it is impossible to go and buy 20 different fertilisers for 20 different plants. I buy the same fertiliser to fertilise all my vegetable, lawn and shrubs. Also look at crop rotation. A leafy crop will take the N out, so you might plant a root crop after. When plants are very small they need a light watering each day, as they grow you can water less often but put more water on. Plants half grown need watering each 2-3 days. The amount depends on how big that plant grows. You would water lettuce a lot less than 1.8m high tomatoes. I water 3 days a week.
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23 Oct 19, Dumi (South Africa - Summer rainfall climate): Hi. I am in Herkpoort, in the South of Johannesburg. Can I plant watermelons late November? Where can I get seedlings in GAuteng.
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13 Nov 19, anon (South Africa - Summer rainfall climate): Usually have to plant seeds.
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13 Oct 19, Mokone j mahlatsi (South Africa - Summer rainfall climate): Hi can you assist with black diamond watermelon and citrulus lanatus Carolina cross How must I plant and grow ? Thank you
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14 Nov 19, (South Africa - Summer rainfall climate): search on-line for 'how to grow watermelon from seed'
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Water melons must have been invented for rank amateurs. I live in Coconut Grove, Darwin, NT and have zero gardening experience, but decided to plant some water melon seeds (in pots) at the end of October - build up time to our summer wet season. They germinated fast so out into the garden they went with a lot less ground preparation than there could have been. They grew, started producing flowers (male only for quite some time) so I kept watering them with the odd bit of general purpose soluble plant food. I haven't seen any diseases so they haven't been sprayed - apart from the termite man's overspray with he did my house's annual ant and spider treatment. Then, in early December, growth went up a few notches; I could see how far a vine had grown in a day. They started taking over the garden. Flowers appeared everywhere, as did tiny native bees to attend to pollination. Every few days a small watermelon appeared and quickly got bigger. At that point I sought some advice from a local garden shop on what I should be doing; they told me to keep watering and sold me some organic fertilizer pellets to feed them with. Now they've taken over the garden, have started climbing fences and keep on producing new melons. I'd never have imagined it could be that easy.

- Grahame B

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Growing Watermelon

Cucurbitaceae c. lanatus : Cucurbitaceae / the gourd family

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