Melons and Squash

I am a first year gardner in Marietta Ga. Now with that said - this year i planted along with the veggies Pumpkin and Watermelon. The melons i started from plants i got at the Home Depot the pumpkins i started from seed.

The melons are taking over the back yard. I dug a couple holes 12 to 18 across and 8 to 10 inches deep. We have nasty clay here Ga so i mixed - MM and the clay. I have about 2/3rds MM and the rest with clay and some small river rock. I planted the melons container deep on a small mound. I used the rest of the clay to build up a wall as it were around the mound to help hold water.

As i said the melon vines are streaching in all direction with the longest about 15 feet from the mound. The entire area of melon vines now is close to 20 square feet. I have several melons in different stages of growth. I have 3 that are football size or better 4 that are about 8 inches long 5 inches round and beginning to strip. The rest 6 (as of this morning 7/5) are looking like small cukes. I put flags thru out the patch so i do not step on the small ones when i walk thru looking for new ones and to inspect the the older ones. All i have been doing is deep watering daily and fertilizing with Fish Fertilizer 5-1-1 and Miracle-Gro i believe 15-4-4. I alternate these two every 10 days and spray for bugs and fungus. That is all i have done. So far so good.

I planted the pumpkins the same way. I have a giant pumpkin they say will be 85 to 100 lbs. I do not know how many will be on the vine in the end. I have one i spotted 7/2. It is about pea size times 2 right now. If i only get one the grandson will enjoy it. My Jack o lantern pumpkins are growing well but nothing yet. My white pumpkins - 3 packages - did not germinate at all! I have sent an E mail to the company to see what the issue might be. When you only get 6 seeds per pack at $2.50 a pack and you get nothing you kind of want to know why. I am also looking for another company to buy from.

Hope it helps with the watermelons.

Might want to back off on the Nitrogen. It's good for vine growth but not fruiting. Phosphorus is what you want now.

That being said I don't promote the use of industrialized fertilizer. If over time you amend the soil with the right organics you won't need to use any.

Another thing you may want to consider is to lop off the growing end of the vine. The plant will put forth more effort into the growing of the fruit after you do.

I would be interested in hearing what the seed company has to say about their dud seed.

Avoid over fertilizing watermelons. If there is an abundance of it in the soil and big rain storms come along, you will get burst melons.

Nothing sadder than a field full of busted melons.

Kay

walshevak wrote:

Nothing sadder than a field full of busted melons.

Kay

To camprn reguarding dud seeds.

Sent an E mail to the seed company telling them about the dud Casper White Pumpkin seeds i planted. I sent them the info as far as planting procdure and what i planted them in MM. I told them the fertilizer i used and how much sun they got in a typical day.

I got an E mail response saying they were sorry the seeds were not up to par. They asked for my address and are sending me replacment seeds. Not sure what good this will be. If they are from the same lot and have the same use by instructions it will take about 4 weeks for me to find out if they are any good.

It was more then i had expected.

Mike

Well, at least they were responsive! Hang on to the seed for next season and you could try presprouting the seed to see if they are viable.

camprn wrote:Well, at least they were responsive! Hang on to the seed for next season and you could try presprouting the seed to see if they are viable.

I agree. Put the packet in an air tight container and stow in the refrigerator until next year.