Lots of firsts this year in the garden. This is the first year of gardening with the square foot method. My four raised beds each have a five foot high trellis at the north end of the bed for vining plants such as tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and another first for me-watermelon.I had never thought about growing watermelons vertically but after reading about it in Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Gardening I thought I could give it a try. Due to size considerations I planted sugar baby watermelons and so far I have several growing up the trellis already. The largest is soft ball sized and there are a few grape sized melons as well. I will have to rig up a sling from cloth to support the watermelons as they grow larger. I've heard a pair of old nylons works well for this purpose. Sugar babies grow to about 12 lbs. so I'm curious if I'll be able to keep them on the vine until they are full grown. This should prove to be an interesting experiment indeed.
Yummy! Makes me wish I had grown watermelons.
ReplyDeleteI have read that pantyhose can be use as a sling as well. I have never planted watermelon. Maybe I should next year.
ReplyDeleteI've heard about pantyhose, too, but haven't tried it. I've never grown watermelons before...*mental note to self, add to next year's list*
ReplyDeleteWould love an update on those yummy watermelons. I've grown watermelon before and never really liked how they sat in the dirt. Will definitely try it this way next time.
ReplyDeleteI used pantyhose on my latest watermelon. My watermelon is Thai Chatchai. It's a small round melon that gets to be about 5 lbs in our garden. Great for vertical growth since the melons are not too large. Great size for the fridge too! According to Baker Creek Seeds:"Thai Chatchai 185. A wonderful-tasting ice-box type melon from Thailand. The fruit weigh 6 to 8 lbs, and have a superbly tasty, crisp flesh that is sweet and fine-grained. One of the better small melons I have tried."
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