It's Watermelon Day!

[GoDawgs]

On April 15 I started two Charleston Gray watermelon plants indoors to get a jump on the season. On May 8th they were transplanted out and I started mulching the growing area. These two plants got some 10-10-10 dug into the planting hole, a tablespoon of ammonium sulfate 6" from the plants when they started to run and another plus a two finger-thumb pinch of super phosphate at first bloom. That's all.



They've been really liking the unusual amounts of rain we've been having this summer and have been getting bigger fast.



I've been checking pigtails on the vines for the past two weeks when they entered the front end of the 85-90 maturity day window and yesterday afternoon I found one that had dried up. It's been 97 days from transplant.



The bottom had that nice creamy light yellow color and it thunked right when I thumped it. It's been real hot here so I left it in the garden to cool off and this morning into the cart it went.





At the house I tried putting it on the kitchen scale but picked it back up when it looked like it might break it so onto the digital bathroom scale it went. 28 pounds. That's enough for us and friends. And there's another one out there that looks bigger. This one will get cut up after lunch.




There are melons that will grow a lot larger and no doubt some of you have grown some of those. I'd love to hear about them and see some pics along with any tips you have about growing them.

[worth1]

My last watermelon growing extravaganza my neighbor lady's stupid son ran over the watermelons.
I was frigging ticked.
Glad he ain't around here anymore.

[Uncle_Feist]

Fine lookin watermelon patch! One of the best watermelons I ever tasted was a Charlston Grey.

[Seven Bends]

Wow, those look great! Hope you'll share a photo of a cut one with us. I remember when I was young, Charleston Gray was the only watermelon sold in stores around here. A great-tasting watermelon when fully ripe, and the oblong shape made it easy to slice, but I remember it was kind of hit-or-miss getting a ripe one at the stores. Oh, the disappointment if you cut one open and it was just pink. (We may have just had bad watermelon-choosing skills back then.)

By the time I hit my teens, Jubilee and Crimson Sweet were taking over. I worked at a farmer's market several summers, and I remember unloading truckloads of both in the July and August heat, doing it the old-fashioned way -- by throwing -- and how good a cold beer tasted afterwards. Or sometimes during, which maybe resulted in a dropped watermelon or two, but that was okay because we got to eat the ones that dropped and smashed open.

Now the grocery stores just have the newer, seedless varieties, and they're pretty reliable for ripeness and taste, but I miss the seeds.