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Hello All I know I'm new to the forum (and not sure if I can post pics yet?) but I love melons, managed to get 2 watermelons to grow last year and they were delicious.
Edit 1 17th June 2018 how are the melons growing... see end of thread for update... x
Anyone else growing melons this year and would like to share our progress ?
Currently this year I'm growing 3 sugarbaby watermelons and about 10 collective farm woman melons.
I've deliberately gone for melons which will (apparently) grow in a short season
I started my seeds at the beginning of march, they need heat to get going so if you don't have a heated propogator I sat mine on top of a bookcase in the lounge (it was bleeding freezing here in March and the log burner was lit most days) and I knew the temp in there didn't drop below 15c.
2 seeds to 3"pots, with the pointy end of the seed facing up, buried about 1/2" deep.
Once they had germinated I kept them going... I made sure the compost wasn't soaking wet just damp, always watering by standing the pot in water until the pot felt 'heavier' but not soaked. (ended up being about once a week due the cold weather) That helps the few roots they do have, a chance to get going in the moist compost. Apparently they don't like getting their stems wet too much.
I kept them on a sunny windowsill and yes they did stretch a little, on warmer sunnier days I put them in the greenhouse but brought them in again at night. yes it's sounds like a lot of 'faff' but really I had them all in a clear 6" deep storage box, so 1 box, once a day I moved.
Once the roots had filled the 3" pot I moved them into 1 litre pots and enjoyed the stunning melon aroma that came from the roots as I potted them on.
The weather here didn't really warm up until late april by which time they were living full time in the greenhouse, and unless the temp was forecast to be below 7c I left them to it.
What it did mean was that by the time we actually did get any warm weather my plants were ready to take off!!!
Once the weather got really warm here, they had filled their 1 litre pot with root. So I cut the bottom out of their pot and sat them on top of a 30 litre compost filled pot (3 pots to a 30 litre pot) and sat them on the table in the greenhouse.
Apparently you usually end up with 3-4 male flowers before a female one will form. So when a female flower does form I get a soft brush (old clean make up one) and get the pollen from the male and dust inside the female flower with it.
So far I have got one melon on the collective farm woman ( about the size of an extra large gooseberry at the moment) with another 2 which I hope took yesterday and today I managed to pollinate a female flower on the watermelon. I'll know in the next couple of days if they have all taken.
These are 4 Collective farm woman melons on the 17th June 2018 the largest is approx 3" now
This is the first of the sugar baby watermelons that has taken, approx 1" in size and 'she' seems to have 2 or 3 others that want to join her
Lets see what happens
Edit 1 17th June 2018 how are the melons growing... see end of thread for update... x
Anyone else growing melons this year and would like to share our progress ?
Currently this year I'm growing 3 sugarbaby watermelons and about 10 collective farm woman melons.
I've deliberately gone for melons which will (apparently) grow in a short season
I started my seeds at the beginning of march, they need heat to get going so if you don't have a heated propogator I sat mine on top of a bookcase in the lounge (it was bleeding freezing here in March and the log burner was lit most days) and I knew the temp in there didn't drop below 15c.
2 seeds to 3"pots, with the pointy end of the seed facing up, buried about 1/2" deep.
Once they had germinated I kept them going... I made sure the compost wasn't soaking wet just damp, always watering by standing the pot in water until the pot felt 'heavier' but not soaked. (ended up being about once a week due the cold weather) That helps the few roots they do have, a chance to get going in the moist compost. Apparently they don't like getting their stems wet too much.
I kept them on a sunny windowsill and yes they did stretch a little, on warmer sunnier days I put them in the greenhouse but brought them in again at night. yes it's sounds like a lot of 'faff' but really I had them all in a clear 6" deep storage box, so 1 box, once a day I moved.
Once the roots had filled the 3" pot I moved them into 1 litre pots and enjoyed the stunning melon aroma that came from the roots as I potted them on.
The weather here didn't really warm up until late april by which time they were living full time in the greenhouse, and unless the temp was forecast to be below 7c I left them to it.
What it did mean was that by the time we actually did get any warm weather my plants were ready to take off!!!
Once the weather got really warm here, they had filled their 1 litre pot with root. So I cut the bottom out of their pot and sat them on top of a 30 litre compost filled pot (3 pots to a 30 litre pot) and sat them on the table in the greenhouse.
Apparently you usually end up with 3-4 male flowers before a female one will form. So when a female flower does form I get a soft brush (old clean make up one) and get the pollen from the male and dust inside the female flower with it.
So far I have got one melon on the collective farm woman ( about the size of an extra large gooseberry at the moment) with another 2 which I hope took yesterday and today I managed to pollinate a female flower on the watermelon. I'll know in the next couple of days if they have all taken.
These are 4 Collective farm woman melons on the 17th June 2018 the largest is approx 3" now
This is the first of the sugar baby watermelons that has taken, approx 1" in size and 'she' seems to have 2 or 3 others that want to join her
Lets see what happens
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