Your comments and tips

04 Mar 10, dene (Australia - temperate climate)

hi i dont the variety of hand but my watermellons are growing well to about football size but are splitting very badly. does anyone know why? they are on retic getting water every morning.

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14 Mar 10, neil fardell (Australia - tropical climate)

i have just picked a watermelon which was planted in october, the nearest leaf had died and it sounds hollow. however upon cutting it open i have found it to be yellow. it still tastes okay but is it ripe or over ripe? i've got two others that fit the bill of being ready but now i'm not sure. should i wait longer? they formed about a week or two after the one i just picked. also the first one i picked about a month ago had split and was mouldy inside when i cut it open....... confused.

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18 Dec 10, stu (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

my father grew a variety of watermelon that was yellow fleshed when ripe he called them "champagne" mellons.

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18 Mar 10, Jess (Australia - temperate climate)

Hi, we planted our watermelons around october and we are now harvesting large and small fruit. we are first time growers and were told we wouldn't grow any. the largest and first to be picked, we left on the vine as i was told to pick them when the short vine attached to them dies, but the fruit caved in and rotted before that happened. since then we have picked another and sat it aside for a week and it's nice, red and very tasty! it was only finding this site and others alike that we know what to do and will experiment with the many many others that are nearly ready. also, how will we know when pumpkins are ready to harvest? are they similar?

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01 Jun 10, Andrea (Australia - tropical climate)

Watermelons are ready to be picked when there the patch on which they were sitting on the ground is white. I learnt this in a very very embarrassing way. I had a job picking melons a farm in Israel. There was an enormous melon lying temptingly in the field and we were all watching it and waiting for it to ripen. One day I knocked on it and heard this hollow sound and declared it was ready to pick. The boss went along with me (but knowing better). He let me open the melon. It was not ripe. It was white inside. Sweetish but simply not ripe. I learnt my lesson.

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07 Aug 10, Larissa (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

thank you for this tip and story - sounds like you had a nice boss!

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07 Jul 10, Noo Noo (United Kingdom - warm/temperate climate)

Hi all, I want to grow watermelon on the south coast of the UK as I have aquired a plot of land for an allotment. I want to grow the pink flesh and green outer type but as I can not import seeds from Australia I am taking them from a shop purchased melon from god knows where and want to know what to do with the seeds do I put them in water or dry them and put them in the airing cupboard (I know that sounds silly) but you would be suprised what can be grown in one. any ideas. Thanks

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09 Jul 10, Natalie (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate)

If the melon is a non hybrid I don't think you would have any problems. I would buy a melon from an organic grocer, would then hopefully be not a hybrid. Dry the seeds out before planting. Plant where you want it to grow. And cross fingers. Would love to hear if you have any success. I have grown melons from seeds - they just seem to pop up out of the compost. So don't see why it wouldn't work, but you never know.

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11 Jul 10, Noo Noo (United Kingdom - warm/temperate climate)

Thanks Natalie will try the organic ones and also the seeds I have and yes crossed fingers. If I manage to do it I will let you know. Cheers.

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21 Aug 10, Susan Chambers (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

Hi, You need to get your seeds from a repretable organinc supplier, the watermellon is a tropical plant so growing it in your airing cupboard is not a bad idea, a glasss house too should be benifitial in summer. the seeds need to be dried then planted in seed mix.once they have grown to planting size, grow them in good compost, I am trying to go over to a no did policy. My watermellons did no good last year. but as I said they are tropical fruit and grow better in Queensland and the N.T. than Vic,but a good summer helps

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