Organic Heirloom Melon Seed For Eating and Summer Fun
- Plant watermelons and melons after the soil is warm and when all danger of frost is past. Watermelons grow best on a sandy loam soil. Start seeds indoors in the north using quality soil and small pots. You can start them in trays with cells but the large seeds tend to use up all the soil and space very quickly so they'll need transplanting much sooner if you start them in trays with cells.
- Watermelon vines require considerable space. Plant seed one inch deep in hills spaced 6 feet apart. Allow 7 to 10 feet between rows. After the seedlings are established, thin to the best three plants per hill. Plant single transplants 2 to 3 feet apart or double transplants 4 to 5 feet apart in the rows.
- Keep weed free by shallow hoeing and cultivation until the leaves get large and shade the ground. Hoe soil onto the mounds, not down and away. Sometimes just scuffing the ground with your work boots can keep the weeds covered. Be careful not to dig to deep and damage the roots.
- When making the mounds leave a slight impression where the seeds are so the water collects there instead of running off the mound.
- Fertilize as necessary with organic fish fertilizer for the best flavor. Fertilize once a week or once every three weeks depending on the quality of your soil.
- Mix worm castings or compost into the soil when making the mounds.
- Cucumber beetles can also be controlled by cultivation. They lay their eggs in the soil so when you cultivate you interrupt their life cycle. If they show up anyway you can pick them off the plants by hand if there aren't too many. If they start to get ahead of you try our organic pest control products like, neem oil, B.T. and SharpShooter.
- If powdery mildew picks up late in the season before all the fruit is ripe, try our K+Neem.
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Hales Best Melon - Canteloupe
Hale’s Best combines earliness with the succulent, deep flavor of the best vine-ripened melon. Cantaloupe Heirloom with aromatic tangerine sorbet flavor. Oval fruits have slightly ribbed netted skin. Vine-ripened fruits average 5-6 Lbs. Harvest when skin turns gold and fruit slips. 80 days
1/32 ounce, ~ 30 seeds, Sows ~ 15’
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Rocky Ford Muskmelon - Canteloupe
Muskmelon Fine-grained, green-flesh. Developed, by chance, in1881 from the variety Nutmeg, and still around 125 years later! Ready when fruit starts to soften and slips off the vine. 80 days
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Ali Baba Watermelon
Middle Eastern treat produces 16-25 Lb oblong fruit. Intricately detailed apple-green rinds look like dinosaur eggs. Superb, sweet flavor with a crispy texture.
1/16 ounce, ~ 30 seeds, Sows ~ 15’
100 Days to maturity. Start indoors in northern climates.
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Crimson Sweet Watermelon
Crimson Sweet is a classic, oblong, 10” x 12” striped melon, standard for a shipping type melon. Weighs in at 15-25 lbs with bright red, juicy sweet flesh. AAS 196
1/16 ounce, ~ 30 seeds, Sows ~ 15’
Watermelon. 1964 AAS Winner. Oval fruits range 20-25 lbs. Fine grained crimson red flesh is sweet and juicy, with a relatively small amount of petite seeds! Thick rind has dark green stripes. 85 days
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Moon & Stars Watermelon
Once thought to be extinct, Moon and Stars has been rescued from obscurity and has become a wildly popular specialty watermelon. Extolled for its unique appearance as well as its very sweet, bright red flesh. It has a dark green rind decorated with beautiful yellow spots of large (moon) and small (star) size. Also has spotted foliage. Needs heat to set fruit (use plastic mulch), so it may pose a worthy challenge to northern growers.
1/16 ounce, ~ 15 seeds, Sows ~ 8’
Watermelon. Rediscovered heirloom variety weighing 6-15 lbs. with very sweet, red flesh. Fruit and leaves are dark green with yellow splashes, ranging from tiny stars to larger moons. Kids will like the idea of the moon and stars on them! Great for back yard get-togehters.
95-100 days
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Sugar Baby Watermelon
Also known as Icebox watermelon, this excellent northern short-season variety produces reliable yields of 8-10 lb, solid dark green, perfectly round fruits. Flesh is deep red and very sweet. Tough rind resists cracking. The standard for small watermelons. Our strain is adapted and selected for cool growing and high yield
1/16 ounce, ~ 30 seeds, Sows ~ 15’
Watermelon. Icebox size fruits are sweet, crisp, with a pinkish-red flesh. Fruit is perfectly round with a dark green rind that is not easily damaged. Excellent short season variety. 78 days
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