Watermelon is a popular snack for low-calorie refreshment in midsummer. Due to their needs, the plants are usually grown in warmer countries, but with good care they can also bear fruit here.
How to sow watermelons correctly?
To sow watermelons successfully, choose the right seeds and pre-sow them in pots from mid-April. Make sure you choose a sunny, warm location with permeable, nutrient-rich soil and plant the young plants outdoors or in a greenhouse in May.
Choose the right seeds
You can get the seeds you need to grow watermelons in different ways. Of the many different varieties of watermelon, specialist garden supply stores (€2.00 on Amazon) usually offer those that are most widely represented as imported goods in supermarkets. These are usually the large-fruited Crimson Sweet and the smaller Sugar Baby. You can also use seeds from purchased or home-grown watermelons to grow the plants. However, you then have to make sure that, on the one hand, it is not a hybrid variety and, on the other hand, that you remove any pulp from the seeds. If pulp remains on the seeds, they can easily become moldy during the germination phase.
Prepare the plants in good time
Imported watermelons in the supermarket usually come from the following southern European countries during the main season from May to September, where the heavy Crimson Sweet variety is ripe:
- Spain
- Hungary
- Italy
- Türkiye
Otherwise, watermelons like the smaller Sugar Baby variety are also imported all year round from countries such as Iran, Mexico or China. So that you can harvest fully ripe fruit from a watermelon in our climatic latitudes, you must grow the plants in good time. Sow your watermelons in pots from around mid-April so that you can plant the young plants outdoors or in a greenhouse in May when the weather is frost-free.
The perfect location for a watermelon
Even if you don't have a spacious greenhouse for your watermelons, you can still grow them to a good harvest in a warm spot in the garden. However, make sure that the soil is permeable, nutrient-rich and that the young plants are well protected from slugs.
Tips & Tricks
Watermelons thrive particularly well on a slope that faces the sun. This can also be created by adding a small pile of earth, which will also help prevent waterlogging.
