Mini Watermelon Sugar Baby Seeds

Mini Watermelon Sugar Baby Seeds

Price for Package of 10 seeds.

Standard watermelon varieties require a lot of garden space for the large fruits and long vines, rendering them unsuitable in small home gardens. Miniature watermelon varieties, such as Sugar Baby and Bush Jubilee, make watermelons an acceptable choice for even the smallest garden, since both the vines and the fruit take up little space. Watermelons require 90 days from germination to maturity. You can direct seed them in the garden, which minimizes root disturbance, in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 9 and above after the soil temperature reaches at least 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

Spread a 2- to 4-inch layer of finished compost over a well-draining garden bed that receives at least six hours of direct sun daily. Cover the bed with a layer of black plastic mulch to warm the soil. Prepare the garden bed at least two weeks before planting.

Cut a hole in the black plastic for each miniature watermelon plant. For small varieties, space the holes 4 feet apart in rows at least 2 feet apart. Miniature watermelon varieties produce bushy growth and don't require the high growing mounds necessary for large varieties.

Sow seeds 1 inch deep, planting two seeds per hole. Water the soil after planting to moisten it and then provide enough water so the top 6 inches of soil remains moist. Seeds usually germinate within a week.

Provide the watermelon plants with 1 to 2 inches of water weekly. Water at the base of the plant so the foliage remains dry and the water can get beneath the black plastic.

Water the watermelons with compost tea or balanced soluble fertilizer diluted to the package-recommended rate every three weeks.

Harvest the miniature watermelons when they reach full size, which is usually about 6 to 8 inches in diameter depending on the variety, and after the small tendrils around the vine dry and turn brittle. The pale ground spot on the rind changes from white to yellow at maturity. Cut through the vine with a clean knife to harvest the melon.

Things You Will Need

Compost

Black plastic mulch

Compost tea or soluble fertilizer

Knife

Tips

Pinch out early fruits if no other blossoms have yet begun to form a fruit. Plants encouraged to produce all their fruits at once are more likely to produce three or four melons instead of just one.

You can train miniature melons to grow up a sturdy trellis. Tie the plant loosely to the trellis with cloth ties as it grows and use fabric slings to support the developing fruits.