Watermelons

[Meadowlark]

I would like to see the color of your juice if yoy decide to do it.

MOD

Here's my first glass of watermelon juice. What do you think? It tasted very good. Good enough to try again.

I just manually mashed it through a colander. It would have been clearer if strained through cheesecloth, but it tastes just fine this way. Thanks.

 

[MiniOrchardDude]

Here's my first glass of watermelon juice. What do you think? It tasted very good. Good enough to try again.

I just manually mashed it through a colander. It would have been clearer if strained through cheesecloth, but it tastes just fine this way. Thanks.

View attachment 98931

Very nice!

No artificial colors or additives!

Jealous of you zone. I still got about 2-3 maybe more weeks until mine my first drink. Might need to go to an AA meeting.

Thanks for sharing.

Cheers

MOD

 

[MiniOrchardDude]

Forgot to mentioned I bought and juiced another WM. This one was way better but no where near as good as home grown.

MOD

 

[YumYum]

Brings to mind in UFC 1 after Royce Gracie fought his first match, he wanted watermelon juice before the next fight which was Ken Shamrock and then beat him. Must be good stuff.

@Durgan is the king of juicing. He may be able to tell ya. He can juice a Tbone steak.

 

[MiniOrchardDude]

Brings to mind in UFC 1 after Royce Gracie fought his first match, he wanted watermelon juice before the next fight which was Ken Shamrock and then beat him. Must be good stuff.

@Durgan is the king of juicing. He may be able to tell ya. He can juice a Tbone steak.

Lol.

Put my kids in Brazilian Jujitsu because of Royce Gracie. Should of gave them WM juice before and after their matches.

Never knew that.

MOD

 

[gary350]

I worked as a watermelon picker 1 summer. We were told, roll melon over if it's yellow on bottom pick it. If it's not yellow roll it back.

 

[MiniOrchardDude]

I worked as a watermelon picker 1 summer. We were told, roll melon over if it's yellow on bottom pick it. If it's not yellow roll it back.

Guessing that was the technique to pick for shipping and handling time.

MOD

 

[Gardening Chef]

Show us a picture of the tendril, WM you harvested and the WM vines.

Something has to be wrong maybe the size might be the issue. How small or how many pounds? Maybe the vine rejected the fruit and the tendril dried out.

MOD

Not sure, but I have had two split open, on me, should I shade the plant from direct sunlight.

 

[Meadowlark]

Not sure, but I have had two split open, on me, should I shade the plant from direct sunlight.

That is generally caused by too much water...either natural or applied, but too much.

 

[Heirloom farmer1969]

You just need to juice them. It is absolutley my favorite thing to do with my WM. Another thing that people hate me for is just eat the best part which is the center.

Great problem to have.

M

Do you guys start your melon seeds or just plant seeds . It's been a while but I hope to have some luck this year with watermelon and canterlope.
Also how in the world do you'll keep the weeds out . I have used black plastic before but not really a big fan of using it to control weeds.

 

[Meadowlark]

Heirloom,

I always direct seed my melons. I find they do not transplant well or seamlessly.

I like to grow mine in small hills planted at the end of corn rows. That way they benefit from a lot less weeds due to corn shading and garden area. They make good companion sisters with three-way corn, beans, and melons. Few things in the garden I hate more than black plastic...it does far more harm than good IMO.

 

[gary350]

Very large melons are a 4 month crop, medium size melons are a 3 month, small melons are a 2 month crop. I will only grow small melons from now on we get a harvest 2 months sooner and we don't have 30 lbs of melon in the refrigerator for a week. I stopped growing in hills 35 years ago too many plants in the same location roots are in computation for moisture. I plant seeds 12" apart in a 30 ft long row then rake the vines in a clock wise circle. Vines shade out all the weeds and grass plants are almost zero maintenance. When vines get too long cut them shorter. My melons always have BER, I give them wood ash once a week, ash is about 30% calcium. Here is a pic of a 39 lb melon next to a 5 gallon bucket that was 8 years ago.

 

[Heirloom farmer1969]

Meadowlark:
Heirloom,
I always direct seed my melons. I find they do not transplant well or seamlessly.
I like to grow mine in small hills planted at the end of corn rows. That way they benefit from a lot less weeds due to corn shading and garden area. They make good companion sisters with three-way corn, beans, and melons. Few things in the garden I hate more than black plastic...it does far more harm than good IMO.
I always wondering why my parents would planyt melons at the end of corn rows now I know . Definitely makes since.
My father would mix well aged chicken manure into the ground were he was planting them so I think that's what I'll try this time .

 

[Meadowlark]

...I always wondering why my parents would planyt melons at the end of corn rows now I know . Definitely makes since.
My father would mix well aged chicken manure into the ground were he was planting them so I think that's what I'll try this time .

I mix in a lot of well composted cow manure...definitely works and chicken will also!

 

[Heirloom farmer1969]

gary350:
Very large melons are a 4 month crop, medium size melons are a 3 month, small melons are a 2 month crop. I will only grow small melons from now on we get a harvest 2 months sooner and we don't have 30 lbs of melon in the refrigerator for a week. I stopped growing in hills 35 years ago too many plants in the same location roots are in computation for moisture. I plant seeds 12" apart in a 30 ft long row then rake the vines in a clock wise circle. Vines shade out all the weeds and grass plants are almost zero maintenance. When vines get too long cut them shorter. My melons always have BER, I give them wood ash once a week, ash is about 30% calcium. Here is a pic of a 39 lb melon next to a 5 gallon bucket that was 8 years ago.

That is a beautiful watermelon!! Looks like my favorite to crimson sweet.
I was thinking I might need to start them from seed to give them a head start but my growing zone is the same as yours so if you can grow melons like that from seed I'll probably just plant the seeds.