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How to Grow LOTS of Watermelon - Vertically on a Trellis - in Garden Beds & Containers! 馃崏馃尡 - YouTube
Channel: CaliKim29 Garden & Home DIY
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hi everyone have you always wanted to
grow watermelon but didn't think you
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could because you don't have the space
well today I'm going to share with you
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how to grow watermelon vertically in
your garden beds and in containers by
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growing up not out and save yourself a
ton of space in your garden let's jump
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in now we're gonna be planting this
little watermelon transplant right at
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the base of this trellis behind me here
today
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the first tip to growing lots of
watermelon is to plant it in the right
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weather watermelon is a warm weather
fruit absolutely loves warm temperatures
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it grows best at temperatures between 70
degrees Fahrenheit and 90 degrees
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Fahrenheit if it dips much below 60
degrees at night that's really too cold
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for watermelon so plant it outside in
the summertime after your last frost
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date when the temperature is nice and
warm and your watermelon will absolutely
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thrive I started these little
transplants from seed indoors about a
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month ago and we're also gonna plant
seeds right in the garden beds and the
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reason why this helps you grow lots of
watermelon it's because you'll have
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watermelon ready to harvest at different
times which spreads your harvest apart
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and also you never want to depend on
just one plant you always want to plant
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those backups so seeds will give us
backups in case something happens to our
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original plant so let's get planting
these right in this garden bed the
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watermelon does take up a lot of space
so even when you plant at the base of a
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trellis you want to remove any of the
old plants that you have growing here so
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I'm just gonna remove some of the peas
which are actually dying off in the heat
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and the nasturtiums which are definitely
fading in the heat so I have plenty of
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room for my watermelon just clip these
out and then we'll prepare our garden
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beds because watermelon is a really
heavy feeder which means that it needs
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lots of nutrients the third tip to
growing lots of watermelon is to add
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good organic matter to the soil so first
of all I've already loosened up my
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garden bed here
it's nice loose soil and we're gonna add
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some compost to help fertilize my
watermelon as you can see my soil is
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nice and loose here so my watermelon
roots have a good room to grow
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watermelon roots are quite large and go
down very very deep so it's a good idea
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to loosen your soil and give a lot of
room for those roots but I am gonna go
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ahead and add some more compost right
where I'm going to be planting a couple
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inches of compost here
to the area where we're gonna plant now
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make sure you plant watermelon in nice
warm soil you're not going to want to
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plant out in your garden until two weeks
after your last frost date so here I'm
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gonna dig a couple of holes at the base
of my trellis and when you're growing
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watermelon vertically it's a good idea
to grow smaller more compact varieties
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these are the Sugar Baby Watermelon from
my Melon Seed Collection and they mature
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in about sixty to ninety days and this
trellis will be nice and sturdy and
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strong to hold up a more compact variety
like the Sugar Baby the Sugar Baby is a
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nice small personal size watermelon it
grows to about eight to ten pounds so it
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really works well for trellising when
you're growing a smaller variety like
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that and the Sugar Babies in my Melon
Seed Collection so we're just gonna
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plant this little transplant right at
the base of the trellis so I'm going to
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dig a little hole for it and I'm gonna
add a handful a Vermisterra worm
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castings to the hole watermelon is
susceptible to disease so I like to add
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the worm castings because it really
helps add the beneficial bacteria and
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microbes which help my plant be healthy
I'm gonna dig my hole just a little bit
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deeper I want the top of the palate to
be level with the top of the soil here
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that looks about right and I'm gonna go
ahead and backfill here with the soil
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and this little tiny watermelon plant
believe it or not is gonna climb up this
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trellis and the watermelon are gonna
look so pretty hanging down and what
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we're gonna do is as the watermelon
plant grows we're gonna tie it up to the
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trellis and then support the little
melons with pieces of old t-shirt
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pantyhose netting will definitely come
back and do a video on that as the melon
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plant grows and when you're growing
watermelon in garden rows you have to
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space them about two to three feet apart
but that's the beauty about growing
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watermelon vertically on a trellis as
you can plant them closer together so
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I'm gonna plant another one of my little
transplants on the other side of this
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trellis this is about a foot or so from
the first plant it's gonna give it
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enough space to grow but still allowing
it space to climb up the trellis I got
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it a compost I'm gonna add Vermisterra worm castings to the hole
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loosen up the soil just a little bit so
those deep watermelon roots have plenty
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of nice loose soil to go down and get
the water that it needs
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tip four to growing lots of watermelon
is to be consistent with your watering
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and fertilizing now watermelon is 90%
water so it really does need a good
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amount of water to grow nice juicy
watermelon so what I'm watering with
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today is the Good Dirt Plant Food which
has a higher nitrogen level which is
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really important for watermelon when you
first plant it because you want all that
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nice green leafy growth and I also
watering with the Vermisterrs worm tea
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which again is really good for
encouraging the beneficial bacteria and
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microbes to help watermelon be healthy
and not get so much disease so good high
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nitrogen fertilizer when you first plant
it then as your watermelon starts to
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grow and flower you want to give them a
fertilizer that has less nitrogen in it
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like the worm tea because that way
you're gonna encourage less leafy growth
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and more fruiting so we're gonna give it
a really nice dose of the water here and
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you'll notice I'm watering at the base
of the plant watermelon are really
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susceptible to different types of
disease and the more you can water at
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the base of your plant let a little
puddle form and then let it soak
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in and water again the more you can keep
water off of the leaves of the
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watermelon plant to help discourage
fungal and bacterial diseases I like to
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water first thing in the morning so it
has the water it needs during the heat
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of the day and that way the water
doesn't sit on the leaves overnight but
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it'll evaporate once the Sun hits it
first thing in the morning and what I'm
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gonna do to really keep up on the
fertilizing throughout the season is
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about once a month I'm gonna add a
little handful of compost to the base of
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my plants and then water it in with some
warm tea so let me head over to this
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other side of the arch here and show you
where I planted a little Sugar Baby
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watermelon about a week ago tip number
five for growing lots of watermelon is
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to mulch your plants now here I have a
little Sugar Baby Watermelon that I
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planted about a week ago and it is
already growing it's got some brand new
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growth on it it just is looking
absolutely fabulous here at the base of
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this trellis now about a week or maybe
two weeks
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when I planted it it was just about the
size of the plant that I just planted on
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the other side so you can see it's
already growing and I do have a little
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cantaloupe also from the Melon Seed
Collection growing right next to it
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already shooting out tendrils so looking
really good but it definitely at the top
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of the soil you can see here is looking
kind of dry so I do need to add some
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mulch now what mulch is is organic
matter that you add to the top of the
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soil
it really helps conserve water and cut
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down on water evaporation and since
watermelon does need a lot of water
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mulch is super super important to really
help keep that water in the soil and
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keep that water going down to the roots
where the plants need it the most I'm
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gonna spread about two inches of
shredded leaf mulch on top of the soil
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now if you don't have shredded leaves
you can also use straw you can see this
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cantaloupe is just about ready to be
tied up to the trellis here which will
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do that and show you how to do that in
the next video when you're growing
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watermelon vertically it is important
that you have a very sturdy arch this
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one is very sturdy Gardeners.com sent
it to me to try out I'm really excited
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about it it's really pretty it's gonna
add some nice dimension to the hill and
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it's gonna be so much fun to walk out
here and see watermelons hanging down
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and just pick one and eat one right in
the garden well now we're gonna do is
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plant some seeds in a container to grow
lots of watermelon in containers the
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type of container you choose and the
type of variety of watermelon that you
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grow in containers is really important
here I'm growing in a Smart Pots fabric
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20 gallon container and you have to have
a very large container for watermelon
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because it does have deep roots and it's
a large plant and the fabric containers
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work very very well because the plants
don't get root bound in this aerated
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fabric so that way the watermelon have
more room to form the roots and more
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roots mean more fruit so we've got this
container filled with Good Dirt potting
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mix it's nice and light and fluffy
actually r-euse this potting mix from
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last season and just added a few more
inches of Good Dirt to add some more
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good nutrients to the soil here and I do
have a drip irrigation hose wound around
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the inside of this container and what
I'm going to do
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is plant some transplants and also plant
some seeds now first off I'm gonna plant
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a Honey Rock Cantaloupe
now Honey Rock cantaloupe is in my Melon
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Seed Collection it's a nice small
compact variety not quite as big as the
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watermelon but it grows perfectly in a
container and you can see I have a
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little trellis here which I'm going to
talk about in just a moment
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so we're gonna plant this transplant
which I started from seed indoors about
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a month ago the same way we just planted
in the garden beds I'm not gonna add
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compost to the soil this time because I
did add some fresh potting mix which
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gives your watermelon plant some good
organic nutrients but I'll dig a hole
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just pop it right in here backfill it
and this plant already is growing
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beautifully and like so so healthy it's
gonna give me some beautiful nice
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cantaloupe to eat as well so I've got
that plant right there which again we're
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gonna tie up to the trellis as it grows
and let's grab ourselves some of the
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Sugar Baby Watermelon seeds now the
Melon Seed Collection has five varieties
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has the Sugar Baby which is a nice
compact variety the Banana Melon which
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again is a cantaloupe Charleston Grey
which is a nice big watermelon which I
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planted in another area and the Jubilee
which I'm going to show you in just a
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moment but for now in the container
we're gonna plant the Sugar Baby eight
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to ten pounds
nice compact size perfect for a
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container and we're going to plant seeds
at the base of the trellis here right
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where the supports are just so I can tie
the vines up to supports as it grows so
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I'm gonna drop one or two seeds right
next to each little support and then
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just put a little handful of soil over
it so easy to plant watermelon seeds you
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want to cover them with an inch or so of
soil and we'll drop seeds all around the
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container so you can see I'm putting two
seeds in each little hole that way if
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one doesn't germinate the other one will
and give yourself plenty of insurance
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for lots of good little seedlings and
I'm planting the seeds about six to
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eight inches apart now if both seedlings
germinate
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in all the little spots I'm putting them
what I will do is just clip one off at
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the base of the soil and that way it
leaves room for the other seedlings so
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I've got three spots for planting Sugar
Babies
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I've got my cantaloupe and I'm also
gonna put another little cantaloupe
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seedling right in the middle it'll make
for a nice full planter and we can
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always transplant one of these a little
bit later if it looks like this
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container is gonna get a little bit too
crowded so I'm just gonna put it right
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in the middle right next to my drip
irrigation hose so it gets plenty of
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moisture backfill we're gonna go ahead
and water because remember watermelon
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needs very consistent watering and
fertilizing we've got the good dirt
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plant food in here and the berm estera
worm tea and when you're growing
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watermelon in containers you're gonna
have to water a lot more frequently than
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you would water in your garden beds
because containers dry out a lot quicker
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so you want to come out and check your
containers daily especially during hot
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weather and make sure that you're
watering them to where the soil is nice
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and moist and runs out the bottom of the
container we're gonna put this container
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in full Sun because watermelon need at
least eight hours of Sun a day in order
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to grow and produce the most for you and
you'll also want to choose a spot in
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your garden bed that's in full Sun as
well I'm gonna go ahead and put some
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shredded leaf mulch on the top you can
mulch in containers you can mulch in
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garden beds it's always good to mulch
your plants to really help conserve that
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water as long as your temperatures are
between 70 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit
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you're gonna see your little seedlings
sprout within about five to seven days
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that's gonna be a ton of fun now
remember how I mentioned you need a nice
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sturdy trellis for growing watermelon
well here's a little DIY option this is
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two large size very sturdy tomato cages
you got one on the bottom then I cut the
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little tongs off of the top here and
then turned it upside down and attached
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it with little cable ties so it makes a
really quick sturdy inexpensive trellis
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that you can use for your containers for
growing watermelon and it's about
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probably six and a half feet tall which
should be a
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good height for a growing cantaloupe and
sugar baby watermelon plants now I said
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I'd show you my Jubilee Watermelon plant
which actually needs some mulch added to
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it so this I'm not growing vertically I
don't have a ton of space so I just
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tucked it in here in the corner of this
little planter and what I'm gonna do is
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let it is let it sprawl all around the
fountain here this is a very large sized
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watermelon 25 to 30 pounds so I'm hoping
I have enough space here it's kind of an
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experiment so make sure you subscribe
and follow along with this watermelon
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series to see how the Jubilee watermelon
grows also I'm looking forward to
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growing lots of watermelon with you this
summer there's nothing more refreshing
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on a hot summer day than a juicy ripe
watermelon that you grew yourself and
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right in your own backyard grab yourself
one of my Melon Seed Collections over at
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calikimgardenandhome.com get
yourself some seeds planted and let me
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know if you're going to be growing
watermelon vertically in ground or in
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containers with me this summer thanks so
much for watching we'll see on the next
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video
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