Kitchen Garden Forum

Watermelon "sugar baby" grows really well on the balcony, in a large container. As the balcony is extremely hot, luckily I don't need a greenhouse or polytunnel. I'm really excited as this is the first time I'm growing them and the first tiny watermelon is already showing up! Here's the male flower:



I'm slightly concerned about the female flower as it looks like it already flowered. I can't tell if it's opening or dying but I did some hand pollination anyways to be sure.

Looks really healthy. Never tried to grow a watermelon but you've inspired me.

Apparently watermelon "sugar baby" is a great variety to grow about anywhere as long as the sun shines and it gets about 20°C so if you happen to try one... Do you love the taste just as much as I do?

I grew them once in a greenhouse and I got one fruit about the size of a grapefruit and as tough as old boots sadly, sort of put me off, but that was in 1983, so seed and gardening skills have moved on since then lol.

We have a Chinese couple on the allotment neither can speak English apart from hello ,last year I seen him loading his car with some sort of Mellon I'm not sure which type , I managed to get my hands on one when I got it home my daughter was there ,this Mellon was the same size and shape as a rugby ball it was far from ripe , then the discussion started my wife and daughter said it was a marrow I was insisting it was a melon the next thing one bright spark cut it in half to have a look we were still no wiser but the melon or marrow was now only fit for the chickens ,this year I've managed to get a plant off him but I'm keeping it a secret

tigerburnie wrote:I grew them once in a greenhouse and I got one fruit about the size of a grapefruit and as tough as old boots sadly, sort of put me off, but that was in 1983, so seed and gardening skills have moved on since then lol.

Even if it gets only the size of a grapefruit, I'd still be happy as I never succeeded before!

I've been successful with the round watermelon before, in as such I've grown a beaut, but I find it hard to know when to take the fruit as the hollow tap is a not reliable indicator & fruit looked grand & it did have pink flesh in it but an awful lot of white rind even though it tapped hollow! Trying again this year so would like a better indicator of ripeness - any other signs you know of?

My wife used to cut a round hole in the side of a watermelon then insert a funnel or tundish depending were you come from ,over a couple of weeks she would fill it with gin or vodka depending on what she fancied ,strange it was one of them times when our youngest daughter used to have a lot of visitors mainly the girls she went clubbing with

Westi wrote:... any other signs you know of?

Not really but I think it's a good indicator if the plant starts to wear down a bit, like the leaves are starting to turn yellowish or brownish. I believe that's a sign the plant has used up all of the energy to produce fruit. It might also be too late by the time, so please don't take my word for it...

Edit
I've watched a video and it said the "belly" of the watermelon right under ir at least isn't supposed to be too bright and its best when looking at the color and this green is a little darker. Well, we'll soon find out!

Does anyone cut off the side shoots of their watermelon? Why should I? I secretly don't want to but if it makes the fruits smaller maybe I have to.

I've never had enough success to comment, but I did note with my one biggie the little guys just fell off by themselves. At the time I felt the plant knows it has an offspring that could pass on the gene pool & focused on that one, but that idea was probably just to make me feel better that I had at least one!

I had around ten last year but they all turned to mush with in 24 hours

Westi wrote:that idea was probably just to make me feel better that I had at least one!

That's probably the same idea I'll go with for now

Last week I removed some fruits and instantly the remaining fruits started to grow. This is one hell of a watermelon that grew in just about a week! There are some weird black scratches on it and I have no idea what caused it, anyone has an idea? It's still growing despite the marks on it.

The scratches are probably just from being next to the stem when very little & a bit soft skinned. And you have learnt something for the future grown melons in that if they don't naturally abort their excess babies then you will have to cull, but that will be fine as with a bit more room to grow soon you can have more to get more. I've seen some interesting structures to support several plants without taking up too much space when mooching around on the net so they can be contained. You are going to have so much fun in your new garden!