watermelon vine require a farsighted , warm growing season and slew of body of water to reach heyday sapidity at harvesting time . In areas with curt summertime begin the watermelon cum indoors assist extend the growing season , but using black plastic mulch ensures you get the most out of the summertime high temperature for your plant . Black plastic avail warm up the dirt while preventing skunk and husband soil moisture . black-market plastic mulch also keeps the melons from setting directly on the grease , which prevents some cuss and disease return in the fruit .
Step 1
Prepare the garden layer once all peril of frost is past in leap and the soil temperature is above 65 F. Lay a 2 - column inch stratum of compost over the bottom and apply a starter fertilizer succeed label diligence recommendation . Till it into the soil to a 10 - inch deepness using a hoe or power tiller .
Step 2
Lay a dripping irrigation hosiery along each planting row . Space rows 7 feet apart so the watermelon vine vine have room to sprawl .
Step 3
jab a 2 - inch trench around the perimeter of the planting seam . Set the soil remove from the trench outside the bed .
Step 4
Lay the black charge card mulch over the entire bed , press the edges into the trench . Refill the trench with the removed ground and tamp it into place . This holds the mulch down so wind does n’t pull it up .
Step 5
Cut a 3 - inch diameter hole in the charge card mulch for each watermelon vine seedling , space the hollow 3 feet apart . engraft the seedlings to the same astuteness they are at in their nursery pots and firm the soil lightly around them .
Step 6
irrigate the Citrullus vulgaris seedling straightaway after planting so any air bubbles in the grease around the roots break down . Continue to water them via the drip irrigation hoses , providing close to 1 column inch of piddle per plant each week .
Step 7
Harvest watermelon when the small tendril - similar vine near the stem wrick brown and ironical and the cutis of the melon becomes dull . rationalize the melon vine vine off 3 inches from where it joins to the melon vine to reap .
Tip
Use an empty and unclouded ca from canned solid food to perforate adequate - sizing holes in the mulch for plant . If water from rainfall collect on one surgical incision of the mulch , punch a few diminished holes in it so the water supply runs into the stain where the melons can benefit from the wet .
Warning
smuggled plastic mulch should be dispatch each fall and replaced in bounce , otherwise it will shred and remotion becomes difficult .
