Watermelon Seeds

Official Name: Citrullus lanatus

General desciption:  What would summer be without juicy, sweet watermelon? Watermelon makes the perfect snack, picnic food or summer dessert. It’s also refreshing in smoothies, fruit pops and sorbets. According to Guinness World Records, the largest watermelon ever grown was grown in Arkansas by Lloyd Bright and weighed 268.8 pounds! The record was set in 2005 at the Hope Arkansas Big Watermelon Contest.Watermelons usually have red flesh, but some watermelons have white, yellow, orange or even green flesh.

How to grow: 

Buy your seed, and if possible buy an open pollinated heirloom variety. Because then you CAN use your own seed next year. The open pollinated varieties are also hardier.

You will find many more interesting varieties amongst the heirlooms than you can find in the standard collection of hybrids at your local gardening centre.

Start your watermelon seeds in the ground, right where they are supposed to grow. The soil should be at least 18°C/65F for them to germinate.

Unless you have an extremely short growing season, do NOT start your watermelon seed in a pot or punnet. Do NOT buy watermelon seedlings from a nursery.

Watermelon seed germinates easily and quickly, within a few days. Watermelon plants outgrow the seedling stage very quickly and they don't like transplanting. You don't save much time and you end up with a weaker plant.

Save yourself this totally needless extra work and stick your seeds in the ground, about two centimetres or an inch deep.

If you have a long growing season, you may want to do several plantings, a few weeks apart.

Watermelons need deep, rich, friable soils. To grow watermelons it helps to raise the soil (make mounds or ridges). Raising the soil has several advantages:

A mound or ridge is free draining (melons don't like wet feet). If you have heavy clay soil, definitely raise the bed.

Mounds are also good if the soil is as poor as mine. I just make a mound of good soil with lots of compost in it to grow watermelons. Sometimes I plant them in what's left over from a compost pile after I used most of the compost.

Benefits: Watermelon is a health food! Watermelon has only 40 calories per cup,yet it has more lycopene than any other fruit or vegetable. Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant which can reduce inflammation and destroy free radicals. Watermelon is also high in vitamin C and a good source of fiber.