Growing Vegetables in a Dry Spot Using Old Milk Cartons
Organic Gardening Tips and Books for the Novices and even Experts
Advice Especially for the Sub-Tropical Organic Gardener
Green Zebra Tomatoes
Australian Native Spinach
Colourful Carrots From Around the World
Seed Suppliers Page (Australia)
Seed Savers' Network Byron Bay
Tomatoes (Including diseases and fruitfly in tomatoes)
Green Paddocks Publishing and Producing Australia
The Chai Wallah Picture Publishing Project
Farming with Bev and Peter Brock in Nutfield
Zen Cleaning Robot Book of Quotes
Cezanne painted fuzzy pictures of them; kids love to eat them and spit the pips out - we're talking about watermelons. |
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OriginsMelons are as African as Nelson Mandela. They were probably first discovered by Europeans in the 19th century when Dr Livingstone found large patches of them growing wild in Central Africa. Watermelons I presume he said. And the Africans looked at him and said to each other, dumb white fella is impressed by our weeds. Does any one know this fella? Why the hell is he fascinated by our melons? But I do digress, melons have also long been grown in southern Russia and the Middle East. And they still grow in a semi-wild state in Namibia and Botswana. In around 1000 A.D. they had reached China where they were stuffed with fire crackers and given to foreign explorers with hilarious consequences. |
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DescriptionA rambling vine which has small male and female flowers that become large football sized fruits. The Latin name citrillus is the diminutive for citrus and lana means "wool", referring to the fuzziness of the young fruit. Cezanne captured this meaning brilliantly, but it is unknown whether he actually grew the things. In some parts of China the watermelon seeds are still the sole source of cooking oil. And in Russia, Armenia, Turkey, Vietnam and Iran the seeds are roasted and eaten with relish (gusto, not the stuff you get from jars) - they are often sold on street corners in cones made of recycled office paper. But not in New York. As the name suggests, these fruit are also a very good source of water. In their native Africa, Kalahari bushmen are known to have survived months on melons as their sole source of water. Watermelons are also recommended for kidney weakness and for cleaning skin as well as teething babies.
The cosmic Moon and Stars
Drought Master and Champagne Watermelons |
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CultivationMelons need a long growing season, lots of space and prefer loamy, potash-rich, soil. I'd also add lots of mushroom compost, pelleted chicken manure and garden lime before planting. They are easy to grow, given the right conditions, and will often sprout up from discarded seed in temperate and subtropical climates - as pumpkins often do. In cooler areas, the variety Stars and Moon (available through Diggers Seeds and Eden Seeds) is said to perform well. All watermelons have a tendency to burst apart when they are exposed to extremes of heat and they benefit from some protection from this heat. I worked on a small farm in Coorabell, near Byron Bay (subtropical), Australia, where they grew the fruit - well it grew itself - amongst Cow Peas, a spreading leguminous plant that provides some shade, but takes up a large space (a few square meters). Cow peas provide nitrogen for the melon, but never neglect the potash. Cow peas are also known as black-eye peas, though the ones I bought from Eden seeds just have a black seed. The long growing time for watermelons - between 100-150 days - is worth it to avoid having to eat the tasteless, old and altogether, inferior, melons that show up in supermarkets. Since melons take so long and need to be planted at least a meter apart, you can try to grow some Asian greens or lettuce in the spaces between them which will mature and be eaten before the melons have taken over. The seed needs a warm soil to germinate: between 15 and 24 Celsius. 
Klondyke MelonVarieties To Look Out ForCream of Saskatchewan, Port Said, which was bought to Australia from Egypt after World War One, Mississippi Melon, Desert King, a yellow-fleshed one that is drought resistant, Drought Master, also drought resistant, Champagne, which is said to taste like Champagne, Stars and Moons, which has a wonderful speckled yellow constellation pattern on its skin when mature and is also reputed to be a very good keeper, and, for cooler climates, Blacktail Moon, and Sweet Siberia an orange fleshed variety (available from Diggers Seed). Well that's it, go out and grow them! Or paint them if you are French. Furthermore I recommend trying a melon seed wafer. The Vietnamese make something with roasted melon seed, sugar and tapioca which is very nutty and delicious. Try it out. |
