Finally got melons and watermelons in the ground. Weather still isn’t really optimum for them, but there doesn’t seem to be any better in the forecast for the next 2 weeks. It should be good weather to test their tolerance. It doesn’t look too cool that they wouldn’t germinatate even if it takes longer than normal. We just had a few warmer days with highs of 20C/68F and ground did feel like it had some heat under biofilm. Next days it will get back to cloudier 15C/59F before getting back closer to 20C/68F. With cloudiness the night don’t look as cold as they could be this time of the year with this kind of highs. Still on clear days it’s likely to get under 5C/41F at ground level.
I changed my set up a little this year. I cut the holes perpendicular to the bed to have seedling more spread out and possibly also get more per m2. Last year I had the problem that some lines failed more. When I had a strech sowed from certain seeds it created areas where I didn’t have anything or just weak plants and other part I might have to cull fairly decent plants. So this year I have sowed them in sort of a checkered pattern. For example in watermelons I sowed every third hole with seeds from the last years best plant, every third with mix of seeds from rest of last years producing plants and rest a mix from years past and some more specific that I marked just to see if they make it. From the best plants I didn’t have as many seeds to spare so I sowed them a bit more sparingly (still probably many extras if they do anywhere near as well as last year) and more from the ones I had extras of. If the weather isn’t absolutely horrible, I should have them this year more evenly spaced out and even be able to make late cullings of plants that are too slow to produce. We’ll see. I have quite high hopes concidering how well some of the plants fared last year.
Under cloth I sowed about 5m of kiwanos from @ThomasPicard and some of his watermelons and melons I got last year to give them a little better change. Kiwanos I don’t have high hopes for, but it’s always nice to test something new that shouldn’t grow that well here.
@ThomasPicard’s watermelons, melons and kiwanos had emerged over the weekend within day or two. This got me look melons outside the cloth. At first I didn’t see anything, but then I saw couple that were just breaking the surface. A day later they had emerged and there were more visible. Now two days later there are a few here and there. Also saw the first watermelons to emerge. Now I’m thinking of marking those that were the very first to emerge out of interest how they compare to those that come later. I’ll also start soon culling anything that emerges late once there are sufficiently spares in all or most holes. Now they have to survive a couple of rainy days with highs under 15C/59F before it should warm up the first time this year well over 20C/68F, although unsure if it will quite get to 25C/76F or if it will continue. I’m happy if there is at least a little more heat than there has been so far.
It’s not really a summer to grow melons and watermelons without protection. Growth has been slow with daily average of around 14C/57F for june and past weeks 70mm of rain was the last straw. There has been enough selection and before I loose them all I decided to cover them with cloth. I also covered ground with black paper mulch to max heating effect and keep weeds in check. They are so much behind that they would need a little help most years to even have good change to make viable seeds. Could/should have covered them earlier as there wasn’t too many that had emerged in the first place, but let’s take this as a learning experience. Interestingly after last small hot period they still developed with averages howering between 12-15C/54-59F. Watermelons quite marginally, but melons have developed first true leaves to that point in a week of cool weather. So wouldn’t need that much more heat. Since covering them a couple days ago many have died, but there are still some that feel firm to touch, and if I’m not mistaken, have developed some more. There is not really hot weather in the forecast. Quite the opposite, it looks like july starts quite a bit cooler than average. That is still better than what we have had over the past week. With a little sun they should feel very comfy covered. Gotta wait week or 2 to see if there is some permanent damage that slows down the growth or if they recover immediately.
Those grown under cloth are looking good and just in time to make ripe fruits. Yet to make final selection although it’s getting clear which are the best. Just waiting for the weather settle a bit to see if there are any casualties.
Kiwanos are growing quite similar space as others. I don’t know if it will cut it, but at least I’ll have better idea of their viability after this kinda year.
