Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: maddave on March 09, 2015, 09:39
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My dad, on his travels, has brought a packet of Watermelon seeds back from Singapore. The packet doesn't give any indication of temperatures or sowing times, but I assume they need lots of heat and water.
Have I got a hope in hell of growing these in the UK outside?! I am down south, so hopefully will have a nice hot summer!
I was going to start them off in a heated propagator around mid april, then transfer to larger pots before keeping them covered in a small cloche sized polytunnel over the summer. I dont have a green house unfortunately. I have no idea what the plants actually look like. Do they trail across the ground, should I let them climb? How many fruit does one plant produce? how do you know when to pick the melons?!
Any advice would be very useful! :)
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They are huge plants, I let mine trail, but haven't tried water melons outside, only under cover.
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Never tried growing melons but I seem to remember that the fruits need some support as they swell and think ladie's tights were used and tied to something sturdy.
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You definitely can grow them outside. They are HUNGRY and you can't let the watering slip, but you will get them. I am just up the road from you and I got a 2.5kg watermelon last year, outside. I started mine early inside under cover and then put it out after I harvested some spuds. I let mine trail on the ground and they do take space, but you can wind the vines around. Advice is also to put black plastic under the plants to warm the soil more, but I didn't do that. Knowing when to pick it is hard. I followed this:
A ripe watermelon should have a symmetrical body shape, a buttery yellow underbelly, and a skin that's neither too dull nor shiny. If you're harvesting from the garden, the watermelon's ready when the stem curls and turns brown and the place where the melon touches the ground turns yellow.
Don't tap it to see if it sounds hollow because you'll bruise the innards. Slugs love the baby fruits, so be careful. I'm going to protect mine with mesh bags this year - I would have had another 4 melons if they hadn't snaffled them.
Hope that helps! :D
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Amazing! I was thinking it would be a no go! Thanks all! Great advice Surbie.
I already have plastic down on the site so will be growing through this. I am hoping the variety I have got will be hardy enough as it is most like a Singapore loving variety and might not do too well! Fingers crossed!
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Hope that it works. The variety I had was Red Star, and am trying Sugar Baby this year too. When you have baby melons, it helps to put them on a stone or something to keep them off the ground which can mean a bit of rotting. And if you cover the vine with earth about a foot away from the fruit it will root and get extra nutrients - just like squashes. That's why I didn't use the plastic.
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They like a loooooong, hot growing season. You'll likely have the best luck with a small fruited variety. I don't think something like a Charleston Gray would work out too well 😜 Smaller is definitely the way to go.
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I might give them a try as well. Watermelons are delicious and I loved them when I was a kid (Didn't eat any in a while :blush: ).
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i'm trying blacktail watermelon from real seed catalogue, very early and bred for cooler climates
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I have grown Blacktail Mountain before and they have done quite well, they have been developed for a cooler climate. I will be growing Bozeman this year to see how they get on. Again these have been developed for a shorter growing season.