How to properly grow watermelons and melons outdoors?

Watermelon and melon are associated with the taste of summer, and every gardener dreams of growing delicious fruits on his plot. Watermelon has long been used as a healing diuretic medicine to cleanse the body. Melon crops are thermophilic and grow in warm climates, therefore, to grow and plant watermelons in the open field, you need to have special knowledge.

It is imperative to find out in advance whether it is possible to plant melons if a cucumber, pepper, pumpkin or zucchini grows nearby.

Can watermelons and melons be planted nearby?

Melons belong to the pumpkin family. Crops are very healthy and contain a huge amount of vitamins. If you learn how to properly grow these plants, you can get a high yield of delicious fruits.

Melon is quite suitable for "neighborhood" with watermelon. Plants tend to grow. It is not recommended to plant them together too close..

Melons are prone to infection with various similar diseases. Therefore, if you plant next to it, you need to understand the risks of spreading diseases from one culture to another.

And melons and watermelons tend to sprout

Correct sowing of seeds for seedlings at home

Seeds for seedlings are planted approximately 60 days before disembarkation in open ground... This means that in the middle of March, the seeds should be purchased. You can buy them in any specialized store or ask those who have already managed to grow a high-quality harvest of watermelons and melons.

It is impossible to get a good harvest from the seeds of last year's watermelon. The best seeds to plant are 5 years ago... It is important to understand that only any early-maturing varieties with a ripening period of up to 70-85 days are suitable for our climate. It is better to give preference to hybrid varieties that are more adapted to adverse conditions.

When preparing seeds, make sure they are not empty. For this, seeds are immersed in a container with water, everything that surfaced can be safely thrown away... Watermelon seeds germinate more slowly than melon seeds. Therefore, it is recommended to scald watermelon seeds with boiling water, for better germination, and only then sow.

Preparing for planting and soaking

1. Soak. Each individual type of seed must be wrapped and soaked in cloth rags and keep in a humid environment until germination... You can also soak in special napkins.
2. If the seeds have already hatched, but there is no way to plant them in a timely manner, you can leave the seeds in the refrigerator.

Home-grown seeds are planted in separate small pots with a diameter of 10 cm, preferably peat. The soil should be a mixture of: humus, sod land 3: 1, add peat, sawdust, humus 3: 1: 0.5.

It is planted in each pot 2 seeds each to the depth 5 cm... Moisten the earth with a spray bottle. Cover the top of the container with cling film and put in a warm place +25 degrees.

It will take 40-45 days to grow watermelon seedlings, and 30 days for melon.

It will take about 40 days to grow watermelon seedlings.

Growing recommendations

• when the seeds germinate, transfer them to sunlight at a temperature +22 degrees... Remove the film;
• the best place for seedlings is a windowsill on the south side of the house;
• a week after sowing, feed the seedlings with mineral fertilizers, another week - infusion of mullein with superphosphate.

Landing in open ground

When planting in open ground, you need to focus on the climatic conditions, the selected crop variety, the readiness of the seedlings.

Soil selection

Before planting melons in open ground, you need to choose a place for planting. Exotic plants love sunny places where there is no shade and wind.

Melons love nutritious soil and sunny plots of land

Melons and watermelons need rich soilsas well as those that withstand moisture well. The ideal option is sandy and sandy loam soil with a hydrogen index of 6-7 units.

Site preparation is carried out in the fall. When digging, add 4-5 kg ​​of manure per square meter, superphosphate 40 g., Potassium salt 30 g. and ammonium sulfate.

Preparing watermelon seedlings

When the seedlings appear 5-7 leaves, she is ready to be transplanted into the open ground. Best time - the end of May... However, you need to focus on weather conditions so that the air temperature remains at +15 degrees at night.

A week before planting in open ground, the seedlings need to be hardened to a daytime temperature of + 16 + 20 degrees.

Seedlings are ready for transplanting after 5-7 leaves appear

Open Ground Landing Pattern - Depth and Distance

For planting in open ground, you must adhere to the following rules:

1. In the garden, holes should be made at a distance 0.5-0.7 meters apart according to the checkerboard pattern. Leave a gap of 70cm between the rows.
2. Seedlings are placed in the holes so that the surface remains only a few top leaves... The soil should be crushed, and sprinkled with sand around to protect the plant from rot.
3. After planting, the crop should be watered with summer or slightly warmed water.
4. To protect a young plant from the scorching sun, you need to close the shoots with moistened plastic or paper caps for 2-3 days.

10-14 days after planting, you need to feed the crop with a solution of ammonium nitrate 20g per bucket of 2 liters for each bush. During the period of bud appearance, you need to feed the melons with mullein infusion.

Seedlings are planted in a checkerboard pattern at a distance of about half a meter

Features of growing melons

To ensure free access of oxygen to the roots, the soil needs to be constantly loosen to a depth of 10 cm... With the development of side loops, spud the culture. In order for the plant not to spend all its energy on gaining mass during the growth period, you need to pinch the main stem. For the full development of melons, three shoots are enough.

When fruit ovaries appear, 2-6 of the strongest and largest specimens are left on the bush. To reduce the load on the lash, it is recommended to tie the fruits into nets and hang on a support... The fruits are placed on foil pads to prevent rotting.

When the melons begin to sing, it is recommended to reduce watering to the very minimum. Thus, you can increase the concentration of sugars in ripening fruits. You need to harvest the fruits when they are already well ripe.

To reduce the load on the lash, the fruits can be hung in a net

If the watermelons will be used for storage and transportation in the future, it is better to take a berry not fully ripe.

Benefits of planting in open ground:

• in warm weather, you can achieve maximum ripeness fruits;
• daily watering of the crop is not required;
• it is possible to increase yields by observing the basic rules for the selection of soil and planting seeds for seedlings.

It is quite possible to grow watermelons and melons in a summer cottage. Some even grow them in bags or greenhouses. If you follow all the recommendations, then by the end of summer you can enjoy sweet, sugar fruits. The main advantage of growing melons in your garden is the absence of chemicals.

Growing watermelons and melons in the greenhouse and in the open field is not very difficult.Some summer residents refuse to plant melons, considering it inexpedient to occupy a large area of ​​the site. Meanwhile, these crops get along well together and give an excellent harvest, subject to certain rules. In a compact garden plot, you do not need to set aside a separate place for melons and watermelons, they can be planted nearby and enjoy juicy sweet fruits.

Seed treatment before planting

Seed material is planted in peat molds at the end of April. Before sowing, it is advisable to warm the seeds well indoors or near a heating device. It is also recommended to soak them in warm water and disinfect them in one of the solutions:

• hydrogen peroxide solution is prepared at the rate of 10 tablets per liter of water;
• a weak solution of manganese or boron of 0.05% concentration;
• "Epin extra", a stimulant is diluted as follows: 6 drops of a dietary supplement per 100 ml of water;
• "Zircon", the solution is prepared at the rate of 2-4 drops of liquid per liter of water.

Treatment with biostimulants will not only destroy pathogens, but also allow plants to adapt to temperature disasters, and also increase crop yields. Soaking is carried out in a cotton bag, which is immersed in heated (approximately 60 °) water, the liquid is allowed to drain and left for a day. During this time, the seeds should swell and crack a little. If this does not happen, it makes no sense to plant them in the ground: the culture will turn out to be weak. When planting, 2 seeds are placed in each mold, in the future this will allow you to remove a weaker branch.

Advice

Simultaneous soaking and warming of seeds is the best preparation for seedlings. Melons are watered only with water at room temperature, while it is necessary to ensure that it does not irrigate the leaves. Seedlings of melons and gourds are quite capricious and require good lighting, warmth and careful watering.

Special soil is sold in stores, but you can prepare it yourself. For this purpose, mineral fertilizer "Kemira universal" is added to the suitable soil. For each pot, 1 teaspoon is enough, then the earth is mixed well. The seeds are buried to a depth of 2-3 cm and watered. Under favorable conditions, the first shoots appear on the 5-6th day, and in a week you can see the first leaf.

Growing melons in a greenhouse

Planting melons in indoor ground is carried out at the end of May. By this time, the soil has already warmed up enough, and frost will not damage the root system. It is recommended to harden young plants in advance, for this they are taken out into the street at a temperature of 13-15 degrees or the air in the room is cooled to these figures. The best seedling age for planting is approximately 25-30 days.

Before planting, the soil is tightened with plastic wrap, in which holes are cut for peat containers. This allows not only to protect heat-loving crops from low temperatures, but also increases productivity. Fertilizers are additionally applied to the holes: humus, ash or mineral additives. From above, the nutrient components are covered with a layer of earth.

The greenhouse should maintain optimal temperature and light conditions. The temperature should be 20-25 ° during the day, and 15-18 ° at night. Watered sparingly and infrequently with warm water. To prevent condensation from occurring, the greenhouse must be periodically ventilated. Watermelons and melons are quite sensitive to excess moisture, their seedlings can rot, and the fruits themselves grow watery and tasteless. If it gets colder outside, cover the soil and young seedlings with foil, cotton cloth or paper.

Advice

At the time of planting melons in the greenhouse, you can have time to harvest young cabbage, early radish and greens. This not only warms up the soil additionally, but also saves space.

Landing order

The scheme of planting in open ground is as follows. The distance between plants should be 40-50 cm for watermelons and 50-60 cm for melons. When grown together in a greenhouse, watermelons and melons are planted in a checkerboard pattern.Peat containers are buried shallowly into the ground, there should be a gap of about 3 cm between the leaves and the ground. This trick will further protect the plant from disease and decay.

When planting, the scheme and the distance between the rows are taken into account. Usually it is recommended to plant in 2 rows, between which a plot of land 50 cm wide is left. The next planting of melons in the ground is carried out at a distance of 80 cm from the first rows.

Care for melons in the greenhouse

Caring for watermelons and melons is not difficult and not too laborious. Young shoots can be covered with cut plastic bottles, this protective frame allows for increased yield. As the plant grows, the bottle is removed or replaced with a higher shelter. When the stem has increased sufficiently in length, it is attached to a special support - a trellis, you can tie the top with a thread to the ceiling of the greenhouse. Heavy fruits are placed in nets, cardboard boxes. The main thing is that they do not come into contact with the ground.

Advice

7-10 days after planting, you can feed it with nitrogen fertilizer - urea or saltpeter, for this, 20 grams of the substance are diluted in 10 liters of water.

Care for melons consists in loosening the soil, watering and feeding. It is necessary to ensure that weeds do not appear between the shoots after planting. Young plants are watered once a week, then it is allowed to do this twice a month.

Watermelons and melons are drought-resistant crops, they grow in southern regions, where the absence of rain for a long time is considered normal. When the first fruits appear, watering is stopped. Watering melons should be done carefully, making sure that no water gets on the root part of the stem. Otherwise, the crop can be damaged by rot.

Every 2-3 weeks the soil should be fertilized with mullein infusion and minerals. During feeding, a small handful of ash can be added to each hole.

Artificial pollination in a greenhouse is carried out with a male flower, it is determined by its impressive size. The flower is picked and applied to the female flowers. The crop should not be watered before pollination so that excess moisture does not affect the quality of the pollen. Many gardeners attract bees to pollination: they open the doors of the greenhouse, put saucers with sugar syrup.

Plant formation

As they grow, the stems are bred in different directions. In the future, they are tied to wooden or metal trellises.

To teach a good harvest, you need to follow the rules.

• The apical part of the stem is cropped on melons. This procedure will be sufficient for early maturing varieties. Late melon varieties are docked differently. In addition to removing the top, the side parts are also inspected, their thickness and power are assessed. Young lashes are removed, leaving 3-4 strong branches.
• You will have to tinker with watermelons. The cultivation of this culture is carried out in one stem, it is selected by the presence of shoots in the leaf axils. The stems, on which there is no ovary, are removed, the rest are pinched. When the culture grows above the trellis size, repeated pinching of the apical lash is carried out at the level of the 4-5th leaf.

Features of growing in the open field

Before planting plants in open ground, you should decide on a place. Watermelons and melons prefer to grow in slightly elevated, gently sloping areas that are well warmed up and illuminated by the sun's rays. Here they grow better, bear fruit abundantly and ripen early.

Care is carried out by loosening the soil, removing weeds and excess lashes. In the process of growth, several inter-row soil treatments are carried out. The first - when young leaves appear, to a depth of 6-8 cm, the second - when 5-6 true leaves appear, loosening can be combined with top dressing.

Harvest watermelons and melons as they ripen. The ripeness of watermelons is determined by the drying of the antennae in the axils of the leaves, the disappearance of dullness and the appearance of shine, and the clarification of the peel of the fruit. If you knock on a watermelon, a dull sound appears, but to distinguish it, you need to have practical skills.

Advice

Melon ripeness is determined by the dried stalk.

Are melons compatible?

Can watermelons and melons be planted nearby? These crops consume similar chemicals from the soil and require roughly the same treatment methods. If you plant them side by side, this will greatly simplify the care procedures: watering, garter, groundbait. However, melons and gourds greatly impoverish the soil, and they can be planted in the same place only after a few years. To prevent this, watermelons and melons should be regularly fed with mineral fertilizers.

Collecting seeds from watermelons and melons when planting them together is not recommended, since mutual pollination occurs. The result of such a hybrid may not be very pleasant to the taste.

If you are the owner of a large plot of land, it is better to plant these crops in open ground in different parts of the garden. If the site is small, then they can be planted nearby, nothing terrible will happen. The proximity of melons with each other will not affect the yield.

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Table of contents:

• Selection of seeds for different regions
• Preparation of soil, seeds, seedlings
• Sowing seedlings for melons and greenhouses
• Fertilizers and feeding

Melons and watermelons are very fond of the sun and feel comfortable in the Krasnodar Territory, the Caucasus, the Astrakhan Region, the Primorsky Territory and other regions with a similar climate. They grow outdoors in fields called melons, which is why these plants are called melons. But gardeners from the Urals, Siberia and the North-Western part of Russia keep up with their counterparts from the south and can also grow a watermelon or melon in their garden. They plant melons and gourds not in open ground, but in greenhouses. Fruits from the north, of course, are inferior to those from the south in size, but still very tasty.

Melons and gourds do not like transplants, so they are planted in the ground only after the first true leaf appears.

Melons and watermelons are classified into different varieties. The choice of any of them depends on the climate at the place of planting the seeds and the preferences of the gardener. Melons are used for food not only fresh, but they also make jam from them and even salted for the winter.

Selection of seeds for different regions

The primary task if you want to grow any plant is to buy quality seeds.

This rule also applies to watermelons and melons. It is best to purchase seeds from specialty stores or fairs. It is not recommended to buy them from the hands of individuals or in the markets, since the change can be substituted for cheaper and lower quality ones. Melons seeds differ from each other in terms of ripening time for early, mid-maturing, mid-late and late. The former ripen in mid-June, and the latter in autumn.

Seeds are best purchased in specialized stores. Preference should be given to the products of your region.

There are many varieties of watermelon that can be grown in the southern part of the country: Astrakhan, Madeira F1, Crimson Sweet, Galaxy, Black Prince, competitor, etc. (more than 100 kinds of varieties). Watermelons grow large, sweet, juicy, fruit weight from 7 to 20 kg.The situation is completely different in the northern regions, where only a few species of the largest berry can be planted. These include Ogonyok, Sugar baby, Early Kuban, Siberian lights. The fruits are usually not heavier than 5 kg, but juicy and tasty. The pulp of a watermelon is not only red or pink, but also yellow.

There are several dozen types of melons, the most famous of them are honey, aikido, gold of the Scythians, Altai, Cinderella, collective farmer, mohawk and others. In sunny regions, you can grow any variety, and in Siberia, in the Urals, it is better to plant early ripening varieties, for example, Altai or Barnaulka. Fruit weight ranges from 0.50 to 3 kg. The flesh of the melon is very juicy and sweet, like a watermelon, white or yellow.

You can grow a melon or watermelon outdoors or in a greenhouse. At the same time, the technology of growing melons in different conditions is very similar. Below is a step-by-step description of how to grow a melon or watermelon in the garden.

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Preparation of soil, seeds, seedlings

To grow a melon or watermelon, an experienced gardener begins preparation in the fall. He pre-selects a sunny place, well protected from the wind, and fertilizes it. To do this, you need to dig up the ground in the place where the melons will be grown, and mix it with fertilizers, for example, with peat or humus. Replenishment of the soil before the onset of winter increases its fertility.

The scheme of planting melons and gourds in the garden.

You did not fertilize melon in the fall - do not be discouraged, if you do everything else correctly, you will have a juicy and tasty harvest. In the spring, dig up the garden bed and add organic fertilizer a few weeks before planting the seeds. Melons do not like clay soil, but you can add several buckets of sand to it. Before sowing, the land is fertilized again with manure and other fertilizers.

Next, you need to prepare the seeds. Melon seeds are first soaked in a special solution for 10-12 hours. This solution can be bought in a store or made yourself from boric acid, zinc sulfate and water. Watermelon seeds are soaked in salted warm water for a whole day. It is advisable to wait for the sprout to appear. In this case, you do not need to cut the seed for it to grow faster.

The cultivation of watermelons and melons is not complete without seedlings. It is planted in order to harvest the desired harvest faster. Also, the plant, previously germinated at home, is already prepared for growing in the open field. For the cultivation of melons and gourds, another agricultural technique is also used - grafting of plants, but planting seedlings is more convenient and familiar. Sometimes in warm southern regions, seeds are immediately sown in the garden. For seedlings, small pots with a diameter of no more than 10 cm are needed, the composition of the soil in them: 1/3 of the soil, a glass (250 ml) of wood ash, some sand and peat. You can mix it yourself or purchase ready-made soil for melons at the store.

Seedlings are sown at the end of April, 2-3 seeds (depending on size) in one pot. Seedlings will appear in 7-10 days. When they grow up, you need to leave one of the strongest sprout. Seedlings need to be loosened, watered only under the root, but not poured, melons and watermelons do not like water very much. The minimum temperature for plant development is 15 ° C.

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Sowing seedlings for melons and greenhouses

Melon bush formation scheme.

In the southern, coastal and black earth regions, seedlings are transplanted at the end of May. To grow a melon or watermelon in other regions of Russia, it is better to transplant in the second decade of June. In Siberia, and in early June, there may be frosts on the soil at night, melons and gourds will die in such weather even in a greenhouse.

To transplant melons in the garden, make holes 70-90 cm apart. Then carefully remove the root from the pot along with the soil and transplant it into the hole, but do not completely bury it, let it be 0.50 cm above ground level. Next, you need to sprinkle with earth, water and observe for 2-3 days (if it is accepted, it will not be accepted).Small plants can be covered with foil at night and in rainy weather.

The roots of watermelon seedlings are transferred to the soil along with the soil from the pot. The distance between the holes in which the watermelons are planted is 1.00 - 1.50 m. The distance between adjacent rows on the melon is at least 0.50 m, the holes in different rows are staggered. Watermelon sprouts are buried in holes below ground level in the garden bed, each root must be watered with 2 liters of water and surrounded with sand so as not to rot. The observation of watermelons is carried out for 2-3 days.

The scheme of the formation of a watermelon bush.

Melons are planted in the greenhouse in the same way as in open ground. But greenhouses have special requirements for watermelons and melons: average humidity (no more than 65%), daytime temperature - 30 ° С, nighttime - 18 ° С, frequent ventilation. Although melons and watermelons love the sun, they should be kept in the shade for the first 2 days after planting seedlings in open ground or in a greenhouse.

To grow a rich harvest of melons or watermelons, plants need to be watered, weeded, huddled, loosened, pinched. Watering must be done very carefully so that water does not fall on the leaves and stems, but only on the ground near the root. The water should be warm. Watermelons need to be watered once a week, during flowering and fruit formation - 2 times, if it's hot outside. Melons are watered abundantly during flowering and fruit formation at the root, and then only in the furrows between the holes.

You need to loosen the plants once a week, but shallowly, because watermelons and melons have very branched roots. When ovaries are formed, melons need to be weeded and hilled. In order to separate several additional ones from the main stem, it is necessary to pinch the melon stem every 5-6 leaves during formation, if the ovaries do not appear, then after the third. The watermelon has only one main stem, after the ovaries appear, it is pinched. During ripening, the watermelons need to be turned from side to side so that they ripen evenly.

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Fertilizers and feeding

How to grow a melon or watermelon without fertilizers? It is possible, but the quality and quantity of the crop will be much worse even if you grow in very fertile soil. All plants need feeding. The most common fertilizers are manure, humus, wood ash, and bird droppings. They are added to the soil in which the melons will be grown. Nitrogen mixtures are also added to the soil, but not much, otherwise the plant will not form ovaries for a long time.

Top dressing is needed so that melons and watermelons grow and ripen faster, do not get sick, do not rot, and the fruits are sweeter and larger. For melons, infusions of bird droppings, wood ash, mullein are suitable. Other fertilizers such as potassium chloride, ammonium nitrate, nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers, etc. can be purchased in stores. They are diluted with water according to the instructions on the package. Do not violate the dosage, you can harm the plants. Top dressing is usually done when planting in the ground, during the formation of flowers and ovaries.