Growing Watermelons! Seed Sowing Indoors, Soil Amendments, Clay Soil, Container Growing And More 

Thank you for watching.

Glad you like them!

I tried watermelons last year with little success Paul. I'm interested in this Early Canada improved that you are growing. What seed company are they from?

William Coleman's Garden and Allotment They are from McKenzie seeds. I have a RU-vid friend in southern Ontario also growing this one. Let’s say a friendly challenge between north and south.

Why would you bother with watermelon in Canada

I haven't done so great with cantaloupes the past couple of years. Two years ago I was short on space and put them in partial shade so they weren't great looking melons anyway but something ate holes through them before they got ripe. Last year I put one in a container and neglected it. This year, they are getting the royal treatment like my watermelons, I miss growing good cantaloupes.

Thanks so much for watching! Good luck.

So to add to this... I have a question. Can the leggy plants be salvaged (used)? Maybe add a grow light before being planted outside?

Same! I just started growing veggies and im doing it from seeds, but all my stuff is so stringy! We've had good sun, but not enough apparently. My first 'round' of seeds I started in april are doing pretty good now(bush beans, sweet peppers, cauliflower, carrots). I have them in containers outside and im thinking they are good...but i can't seem to get new seedlings going good, looking at grow lights now lol

I answered my question... The answer is yes. I salvaged all my leggy plants and all are doing well outside.

@@heatherstevens-messer7682 I bought grow lights and they worked great. L.E.D are best... I ended up transplanting outside a little to early (may 15) lesson learned. Next year I'll start inside under grow lights and transplant outside in the garden on June 1st

Good luck!

I have heard several people say the same thing about the Bush Sugar Baby plants from Baker Creek. The ones I have grown are Burpee, they were smaller plants.

Good luck!

Good luck! I have a bunch of videos on growing watermelon in a playlist. Hopefully you can find some helpful info there.

I'm also in georgia and this is my 1st time growing anything I bought 3 watermelon plants 2 crimson sweet and a jubilee and 4 different tomato plants from the nursery... they all seem to be doing great.. I also tried growing from seeds indoors with cucumbers and just noticed they are coming up today after just 4 days

I love your channel♥️

It sounds like they are not getting enough light. How close are they to the grow light? They should really only be 3 or 4 inches under the bulbs. If you have the grow light raised too high it can make your plants tall and leggy.

Great window lighting, but obviously that’s harder to get

This year's cut: sugar baby, klondike, orangeglo, scaly bark, royal golden, kaho

Thanks! I want to grow Kaho as well but am having trouble locating the seeds you gave me. I think I will probably find them in time to plant some. Good luck with yours! Klondike is still my favorite but Congo is pretty great too.

Royal Golden is so pretty, looking forward to seeing you grow them.

They are put away right now, sorry. Basically you want some kind of stand or you could hang them from a shelf, just a way to hang them by a chain so that you can raise or lower the light. Most shop lights come with chains. Another option is to stack books up and put your plant trays on top of them so that your plants will be closer to the light. When I made this video I was using a t8 daylight fluorescent bulbs in a shop light. I try to keep the top of the plants from 2 to 4 inches from the bulbs. As of this year, I also have an LED light and I am still figuring out the perfect growing distance for that one, I think my plants may have been a little too close to that one this spring.

That’s what I want to know. Lol

Wolf21319 I think it’s normal to be honest, that’s what mine look like although I’m not growing watermelon that’s what my sprouts look like and they are in a pot that is growing my plants very well and healthy. It’s also been in all natural light but does not get a lot of light as I only put it in direct sunlight some days.

I agree! Orangeglo is flavorful but I love a crisp watermelon. Crimson Sweet is a good one.

Thank you Etta! Happy to see you commenting. Good luck with your container watermelon if you decide to try it!

No

I talk about it in some of my watermelon growing videos. If you go to my page and click on playlists you can find them there. Basically I use whatever I can get for free like chicken manure and fall leaves from my own yard. I also buy some bagged products like compost. I need to start composting for myself.

This is very true... I live in southeastern Wisconsin and I grew Yellow Crimson (essentially the same as Crimson Sweet except yellow fleshed) and the vines are pretty big.

One or two plants. The vines will climb out of the bed and across your lawn. Watermelon vines get pretty long.

Christa's Garden Thank you.

Yes I do. 5:50 in the video I discuss it.

My answer might be a little broad as well, I just do my best with what I can find on sale at the store. Watermelons need all three, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Early on they are Nitrogen hogs, that is why I recommended blood meal and or chicken manure in this video. Besides everything that I add to my soil at the start of the season, I usually add a small amount of granular fertilizer to each planting hole or toss it over the planting area, maybe a 5-5-5 or a 6-4-5, something in that range. Right before planting is also when I spread some blood meal over the planting area. Because I have clay soil which is really great at holding onto nutrients compared to other soil types and because I add the compost, manure etc, I actually don't do a lot of fertilizing during the growing season, maybe 1 or 2 liquids feeds over the entire growing season. I usually just use Miracle Gro liquid feed. If you have a different soil type or if you have clay and didn't add amendments you may need to fertilize more often. Every garden is different and you may need to fertilize more often than I do. Container plants will definitely need fertilized more often, a liquid feed once every two weeks should be fine, something that has NPK.

It's almost the middle of June, I would just direct sow some seeds out in the garden at this point. Is it warm enough to plant stuff out in the garden where you live? I start mine indoors to get a little jump start on the growing season but it isn't necessary. I would plant extras just in case slugs mow a few of them down, then thin them out if needed. If you do decide to plant them out in your garden, don't forget to harden them off first.

@@ChristasGarden I have 2 that are 3 weeks old and one that's 6 weeks. I didn't realize they weren't getting enough light. I got a large sun lamp and they've been growing fast in the last 5 days. they all look the same.hopefully its enough time to fully grow.

That's blossom end rot. You would need to apply a calcium additive such as Vigoro tomato & vegetable garden plant food plus calcium around the base of the plant when you begin to see flowers forming. I used this last year and it worked like a charm!

@@kcmthedesigner Thanks. Will try it

I pull it out carefully, not to disturb the other plants roots too much and then get rid of it. You could cut it off as well. I plant two in each cup to make sure at least one germinates.

@@ChristasGarden Thanks so much!

If you don't have grow lights, you can direct sow your seeds out in the garden after your last frost date.

Thank you!

Plants grown from seed outdoors should look just as good as a plant that was grown under a grow light.

You can sow watermelon seeds directly out in the garden after you are frost free, I think I mentioned that early on in the video. I have tried a south facing window and the seedlings grew leggy, personally I would rather direct sow the seeds outdoors than grow leggy plant starts indoors. Also my grow light is actually just a cheap shop light, it isn't necessary to buy expensive lamps that are labeled and marketed as grow lights, I don't have the money for stuff like that either. I use a cheap shop light with T8 daylight bulbs, it works great. For things like tomato plants, a south facing window could work, even if the plants are leggy, you can just plant them deeper in the soil out in your garden.

@@ChristasGarden Assuming I'm frost free what about low night temperatures just above the freezing point?

Thank you!

Watermelons don't like having their roots disturbed so separating them isn't something that I am going to do. Once planted in the ground, each plant needs a lot of space.

He is

You water them as needed. For germinating seeds, the soil should be lightly moistened. Once the plant gets going, you need to water more often.