Watermelon Seeds 7g

Watermelon is the classic summer fruit: big, refreshing melons with crisp, sweet flesh that cools you down on the hottest days. The vigorous vines sprawl widely and love a hot, sunny spot, making this seed a natural fit for Egyptian gardens and the long warm season. Whether sliced fresh on a summer table or pressed into juice, a home-grown melon ripened on the vine rewards you with flavour you simply can't buy.

Planting

Watermelon is a warm-season, very frost-sensitive crop, so wait until the cold has fully passed. Direct-sow one to two weeks after the last frost once the soil is warm, above roughly 21 C, or start transplants indoors about four to five weeks before setting them out. Soil temperature at planting should be at least about 16-18 C measured at 10 cm depth, with 21-32 C being ideal; below 21 C germination is very slow, while at around 25 C seedlings emerge in about five days. Sow seed roughly 1.3-2.5 cm deep, or about 2.5 cm when direct-seeding into hills. Give the vines room: space rows about 1.8-2.4 m apart, and within the row allow about 0.9-1.8 m between plants (a rule of thumb is around 2.2 square metres per plant). In hills, plant a few seeds per hill with the hills about 1.8-2.4 m apart. Watermelons resent root disturbance, so start any transplants in cells or pots and set them out while small with the rootball intact. In Egypt, the heat is on your side: in the Nile Delta and Lower Egypt, direct-sow or transplant from mid-February to April once the soil has warmed past about 18 C and frost risk is gone, for a May to July harvest, with transplants started indoors in January to gain a few weeks. In warmer Upper Egypt, sowing can begin from late January to March for an April to June harvest, and a late-summer crop sown in August for an October to November harvest is also feasible. Avoid sowing from November to January in the Delta, when the soil is too cool and occasional frost can kill seedlings.

Fertilizing

Work a complete fertilizer into the bed before planting, such as a 5-10-10 or a balanced 10-10-10 or 13-13-13 blend at the recommended pre-plant rate. Side-dress with nitrogen before the vines begin to run, using a source such as 34-0-0 or calcium nitrate, then give a second feed after bloom when the fruit is developing. Go easy on nitrogen overall: too much delays fruiting and can cause hollow heart in the melons, so feed for steady growth rather than lush leaves.

Care

Choose a hot, sunny location, as watermelon needs full sun with about 8-10 hours of direct light a day. Keep the soil uniformly moist but never saturated, watering deeply and infrequently at about 2.5-5 cm per week, ideally through drip or a soaker hose. Good moisture is most critical early on and during flowering and fruit set; then reduce or stop watering in the last week before the fruit ripens, since overwatering dilutes the flavour. Thin direct-seeded hills to about two strong plants per hill roughly a week after germination, or to a single plant where spaced individually, and water any transplants in with a gentle starter or fish-emulsion solution that won't burn tender roots. Watch for cucumber beetles, squash bugs, aphids, spider mites, thrips and caterpillars such as rind worms and cutworms; cucumber beetles are most damaging at the seedling stage and also spread disease, so use floating row covers (removed at flowering so bees can pollinate) or an approved insecticide such as pyrethrin. Common diseases include anthracnose, gummy stem blight, powdery and downy mildew, Fusarium wilt, viruses and root-knot nematodes, so rotate and don't plant watermelon or related cucurbits on the same ground for at least three years. Harvest when the curly tendril nearest the fruit stem turns brown and dries, the ground spot where the melon rests changes from greenish-white to creamy yellow or orange, the rind loses its gloss and turns dull, and a flick or thump gives a dull, hollow sound rather than a high ring. This is typically about 35 days from fruit set and roughly 70-90 days from planting depending on variety.