Growing Watermelons on Tomato Cages

We are fortunate to live in Zone 7b where (in theory) watermelons planted in our Kitchen Garden should thrive in our long, hot growing season. Oh, would that it were as simple as that!

Here's a bit of backstory:

Our first year here (2009), we had a couple of rows of tomatoes and peppers in the newly-christened Way Back. That's when it was still a 1/4 acre wasteland of weeds, wild blackberry bushes, and rocks. The soil was pathetic, to put it mildly, having been scraped clean whenever Duke Energy installed the transmission lines overhead; the previous owners had simply ignored this diamond-in-the-rough part of their property. We knew we had our work cut out for us, but I don't think either imagined what a tough-row-to-hoe we'd tackled.

Our next two years (2010 & 2011) were about putting our much-revised 4-year plan into action. We focused on growing the basics like tomatoes, peppers, beans, and squash in the Kitchen Garden, and on getting the soil in better shape. And while the garden we planted in 2012 was more ambitious, medical circumstances caused us to abandon most of our efforts to the forces of Mother Nature. Still, we were headed in the right direction...just not there yet.

Our Kitchen Garden of 2013 was the first "according to plan" version, with cool season crops (followed by a cover crop of beans) in the raised beds of the Box Garden; corn, peas, and pumpkins in the Block Garden; and warm season crops in a 4-year rotation in the four rows of the Row Garden. One of those rows (Row #1 in 2013) was designated for the cucurbit family of cucumbers (grown on an A-frame trellis formed from repurposed lattice panels), cantaloupes (really, muskmelons), yellow squash, zucchini, and watermelons.

I trialed using black landscape fabric as a weed barrier on all of my rows in 2013, cutting X's in the fabric at appropriate spacing to plant either seeds or transplants. My watermelon seeds didn't germinate, so I purchased transplants of Sugar Baby, Crimson Sweet, and Jubilee watermelons. These went in in mid-May, and by 6/26/13 I was reporting in my journal that we had 10 small fruits on flourishing vines.

Unfortunately, some critter (raccoon? groundhog? turtle?) ate holes in every single melon by the end of July. When a few more melons (mostly Sugar Babies) started appearing, I put them inside nursery pots, thinking "out of sight, out of mouth." They/It ate those melons, too. Such a heart-breaking day.

There had to be a better way.

Because we got such good results with the cukes growing on a trellis, I thought the answer might lie in that direction: upward. But I was out of lattice to repurpose. What I did have in abundance was tomato cages. I wondered if they might work.

Moving to Row #2 in the rotation, I "planted" the tomato cages at the same time as the transplants (started from seeds) of Crimson Sweet, Sugar Baby, and Jubilee...again cutting X's in black landscape fabric that covered the row. According to my garden journal, the date was 5/26/14 (much later than intended, due to cooler weather at the beginning of the season).

As the vines grew up, I wrapped and wove them over and around the rungs of the tomato cages. I knew I was going to run into an issue with the weight of the individual fruits, so I was trying to "build" a strong vine system as I went along. Soon the male flowers appeared. Not long after, the female flowers...and the bees...showed up. Imagine my excitement when I took this picture of the first melon of 2014! 

By this time, the vines had grown up well past the top rung, even with my wrapping and weaving, and the fruits were becoming quite heavy, as you can see with this Jubilee (pictured below). And I had begun to research support options in earnest.

While several sites suggested using mesh bags like onions come in, I didn't have those readily available since I grow all the onions we use. Some sites recommended slings made from pantyhose, but I rarely wear pantyhose anymore. I was using a gallon milk jug, perforated in the bottom for drainage and zip-tied to the cage supporting my cantaloupes, but I knew that wouldn't be large enough for a watermelon, even the smaller Sugar Baby (pictured).

I settled upon making slings or little hammocks out of an old summer-weight row cover. I cut 44" lengths of it into strips of about 10-12" in width, knotting them on the ends around the rung above where a melon had formed, securing the ends with clothespins. I knew that the weight would increase as the fruit matured, so I was trying to provide some growing room in the sling.

As the original melons grew, the row cover slings began to show their age. Many had small holes that became large tears, and one melon ripped its row cover in two...sending the now-unsupported fruit crashing to the ground. Another simply cracked open from lack of sufficient support when its sling tore, as seen in this picture. 

At that point, I started making the slings from old t-shirts, which provide much more support. Sling material question solved!

What I didn't realize was just how much the weight of a growing melon would pressure the tomato cage. Thomas had to "retrofit" the cages with support from a steel fence post, driven into the space between two cages, which I then tied to the post. This triage prevented both cages from toppling over mid-season.

I also placed upturned plastic 3-gallon nursery pots under the growing melons nearest to the ground, to give them extra support. And then the rains started, adding extra water-weight to the nearly-ripe fruit.

We harvested 5 melons on 8/8/14: 2 Crimson Sweets, 2 Jubilees, and 1 Sugar Baby. While the CSs appeared to be ripe, I had my doubts about the others. But vine failure, probably due to squash vine borers, led me to try to save the largest of the fruit. Would they be ready to eat?

We chilled a couple and cut into the largest of the Crimsons this morning. When I pierced the rind with the knife, it popped open with a crack...a good sign! And it tasted every bit as good as it looks in this picture. 

So, using tomato cages to trellis watermelons turned out to be a good idea, getting the vines off the ground and providing needed protection from critters for the fruit. The proof was in the tasting!

What will we do differently next year? 

1. For sure, we will sink the fence-post support system at the time of transplanting. 

2. We will definitely use t-shirt strips (12-15" in width) as sling-material. 

3. We will also cut a 4-6" long split in the ends to make them easier to knot around the rungs.

4. I will prune the vines more enthusiastically, especially the side shoots, to keep the plants cleaner and more manageable. With less green vegetation, there will be less pest-pressure.

As always, happy hoeing!

Days of Summer

Alex Trebeck: Lazy days of Summer.

Me: What is NEVER the answer to a question about a garden in August?

Summer is in full swing in The Way Back and brings with it a change in gardening chores for the month of August. As the thermometer soars, enthusiasm for gardening activities typically wanes...at least in the heat of the day. July and August are our hottest months, so we usually don't start a lot of new garden projects...although we do tend to talk about plans for this or that while taking more frequent cooling-off breaks. Still, there is always a mountain of maintenance to-do's in a Summer garden. Plus, we take the first steps for our Fall vegetable garden from mid-July through mid-August.

The best time to do any kind of gardening or maintenance is in early morning when it hasn't gotten so hot, or late in the day after the sun has dropped toward the horizon. Years ago, I promised my mother (who worried about the potential for heat stroke...since that's how her Grandfather Keaton died) that I would "try my best" to follow a rule of "Noon or Ninety, whichever comes first," coming inside to cool off when the clock reached 12:00 or the temps topped 90. In addition to paying attention to the time and temperature, I dress appropriately, keep a cooling cloth (made from strips of an old cotton T-shirt, soaked in cold water) around my neck, take more frequent breaks, drink plenty cooling beverages (water would be best, but I lean toward iced tea), and remember to use sunscreen and bug spray. 

Here's the Garden report for early August:

Kitchen Garden —

• What can I say? I admit I spend the majority of my time here in Summer. I take my morning coffee walk around the garden not only to see what is growing; enjoy the fruits of our labors; snap pictures to document and share; and pick what has ripened; but also to spot problems with weeds or pests before they get out of hand. "Managing by walking around" I call it.

• In Row 1, the okra (mainly Clemson Spineless, joined by a few Burgundy, Green Velvet, and Dwarf...all seed from the Old Salem Seed Exchange in 2013) is starting to produce pods. I have fewer plants than last year, so I hope I will be able to keep up with the harvest (which just overwhelmed me in 2013)!

• Row 1 is the home to my stand of heirloom Nanking green cotton. I hand-ginned the seed from the boles harvested in 2012 and planted 24 "hills," using 3 seeds to a hill (making allowances for two-year old seed). I had a fantastic germination rate, resulting in 1-3 plants per hill. Of course, I have had to replant a few hills due to the dogs using this portion of the garden for their enthusiastic romps, but that was easily done. BTW, someone recently asked me why I was growing cotton? I replied "because I got the original seed from the Old Salem Seed Exchange (and I feel an obligation to grow some and give back), because it represents my own heritage, because it produces one of the prettiest flowers around, and because the growing conditions are right...not to mention that I want to raise enough cotton to hand-spin enough yarn to knit SOMETHING!"

• Also in Row 1, the Beauregard sweet potato vines are running well. This year, I am trialing growing sweet potatoes under black landscape fabric, cutting holes to plant the initial 18 slips. They look happy with this arrangement! My hope is that the fabric will help keep the clay soil moist enough to alleviate its  hardening into a long, solid brick...and make it easier for the tubers to form and then dig. Time will tell whether it is successful. UPDATE: what has eaten the leaves off the sweet potato vines?! We are surmising we may have a ground hog (our neighbor says he has seen one); whatever the critter is, he/she left the vines and just ate the leaves. How odd!

• In Row 2, the cucumbers (Straight Eights and Boston Pickling) growing on the latticework trellis), yellow squash, and zucchini (both kinds of squash are being trialled in tomato cages) are all producing profusely. For the most part, the cukes I am collecting to have enough for pickles; I have made some favorites (at least for me) like marinated (in vinegar and sugar) cucumber and onion slices, veggie cream cheese spread, and gazpacho. I do try to pick the squashes while they are still small and tender, but sometimes they just get away from me. That's when I find baseball-bat sized zukes hiding under the giant leaves.  Can you say zucchini bread? 

• Squash borers and squash bugs can both be fatal to squash, zucchini, and pumpkin plants, and they will attack melons, cucumbers. I check the undersides of Learn more about these pests and how to manage them from this Pender Gardener article: http://pender.ces.ncsu.edu/index.php?page=news&ci=LAWN+76. UPDATE: it looks like the squash vine borers have arrived. Several of my squash plants seem to be showing signs of the frass around the base of the thick vines. Also, because of all the rain and high humidity, the conditions are excellent for mildew. Sigh.

• Row 2 is supporting one of my experiments for 2014: using tomato cages to trellis my melons. [I'm doing this experiment in response to the disaster in the melon patch in 2013, when a raccoon (or something) ate its way through every single melon.)] Since the cantaloupes are vining slowly, they have been easy to train. I only have one 'lope, which I have supported with a zip-tied, vented gallon milk jug, which has drainage holes in the bottom. The excessive temperatures in late June stalled the development of more flowers, so I just have to wait until they recover.

The watermelons are proving more difficult. All three varieties (Crimson Sweet, Sugar Baby, and Jubille) are vining well...perhaps too well. All have produced flowers and fruit, with Crimson Sweet winning the numbers game here. I knew the individual melons would need support when they begin to gain weight, so I cut huge swaths of old, summerweight row cover cloth into slings (or hammocks, as Thomas said) and used clothespins to attach them as supports to the ripening melons. Seems to be working in most cases, with the notable exception of the Jubilees...which can weigh 25 pounds. We found the largest of the developing Jubilees on the ground yesterday, after it had ripped through a hole in its sling and snapped off the vine. I picked the two largest CS and Jubilees and one SB (as you can see in the photo below). UPDATE: flowers have returned to the melon vines after a brief hiatus. Several melons are forming at the ends of the vines, so I am bringing out the plastic pots (overturned) to try to provide some protection.

• Row 3 is home to most of our bean crop: Kentucky Wonder and Garden Advantage are planted on the 30' long bean "fence" (made with two 5x15' net trellises strung over 3 6'-steel fence posts), Scarlet Runners are planted on the bean tower, and Fordhook limas are planted in a three-row bed. Of all those mentioned, the limas are doing the best (which is great because they didn't even flower last year, much less make a crop!). We have suffered repeated losses to either cutworms or bunnies...or both...along the bean fence. Still I kept watering the stubs, and many sent out a second set of leaves on alternate stems. The KY Wonders are beginning to flower (finally) so we may get a crop yet...if I can keep the Mexican Bean beetles (which were a scourge in 2013) at bay. I have used neem as a precaution against all other pests in this row, being cautious to use in the late evening to avoid damage to pollinators. UPDATE: the Garden Advantage bush beans have switched into high production mode. Hooray!

• Dominating Row 4, the tomatoes are ready...finally! We have been picking (and in many cases eating right off the vine) Sun Golds for nearly a month now...both from the one transplant I purchased from Burpee and from the three volunteers I have been trialing in the raised bed, just to see what (if anything) these offsprings of a hybrid would produce. As of this week, I have been picking the almost ripened Beefmasters and Park's Improved Whoppers...6 nice ones today. I say "almost ripened" because we suffered a loss last week of our very first almost ripened Black Krim, when I discovered a squirrel (or some critter) had beaten me to it. Brazen beasties! 

And then Thomas discovered our turtle has returned. He seemed to be enjoying a couple Romas that had fallen off the vine. We don't think a turtle capable of reaching up and pulling the produce down to his level...and at least when a turtle eats, he cleans his plate!

As tomato plants continue to grow and produce, I try to keep the soil around the plants (which is mulched in mushroom compose topped with leaf mold) consistently moist. Inconsistent watering is the reason tomatoes develop unsightly cracks. Also, blossom end rot (those awful black spots covering the bottom of your tomatoes) is most common on tomatoes but can also affect peppers, squash, and melons. BER is the result of low calcium in developing fruits and is most commonly caused by uneven watering. For some reason, we've lost several of the Beefmasters to BER, but only one PIW. 

• The peppers in Row 4 are growing well and starting to ripen, yielding a couple red pimientos, a golden Orange Blaze, and a couple mild bananas. The hot Cherry Poppers (whose peppers grow up rather than down on the stem) are going into high gear now. I burned my tongue on one of the seeds when I was putting up some in a pint jar (with hot vinegar)!

• I've seeded the Fall garden in the raised beds in the Box Garden: broccoli, cabbage, spinach, beets, carrots, and lettuce. Have to remember to keep the beds moist, since the temps can do a great deal of damage to the germinating seeds of Cool Season crops

• The Block garden has corn and pumpkins inside the fence, with the latter growing faster than the former. I struggle to keep up with removing eggs laid on the pumpkin leaves by the squash bugs...who seem to prefer pumpkins to squash at this point. UPDATE: I planted garden (English) peas around the outside of fence.

• The 3 rows of pink-eye purple hull ("Southern") peas have done fairly well, despite being in the direct path of the dogs' romps. They have stopped flowering, but I hope cooler night temps might encourage another flush of peas.

Here're the latest harvest snap:

Orchard —

• Since ALL of our fruit trees were adversely affected by the late freeze in April, there will be no fruit this year. So sad.

• The Pollinator Garden is looking good! Zinnias have filled in, as have the marigolds. A couple of surprise sunflowers have sprung up; that's one of them in the pic above. And the pineapple lilies (new in 2013) have bloomed! 

Berry Patch —

• Blackberries are winding down and need to be pruned to remove the canes that have just produced this year's fruit. To encourage branching on the new canes (which will produce next year's berries), we cut back the vigorous, new growth two or three times for greater fruit production. UPDATE: Thomas cut back the canes that just fruited.

• Blueberry bushes also need pruning now that their harvest is complete. Thomas cleaned out the weeds from the blueberry boxes (as they are planted in raised beds). I need to prune the bushes and and mulch again with a nice layer of leaf mold.

• The 2 Concord grapes have put on too much new vine growth, along with a record amount of fruit production (see pic). Consequently, we had to do some repair work on the fence-trellising system after a severe thunderstorm in late June. The newest grapes (3 Reliance and 3 Flame) are passing their first formative year without much assistance from us; we are simply allowing them to develop good root systems in hopes they begin to flower and fruit next year. Here're the Concords:

• I spent a cloudy morning rejuvenating the strawberry bed, cutting off numerous runners and weeding. I dosed the remaining "Mother" plants with earthworm casings (fertilizer) and mulched them with mushroom compost. I am attempting to root the "daughter" runners in two flats and several hanging baskets; those that "take" will be used to create a new bed this Fall. UPDATE: the runners planted in baskets have done much better than those in the flats.

Rose Garden —

•  According to "The Pruning Specialist" by David Squire, good results have been achieved by using electric hedge trimmers to prune bush roses. Intriguing. While I balk at using this technique with my hybrid teas, miniatures, floribundas, or grandifloras (or on any rose in winter dormancy), I saw promise in managing the exuberant summer growth on my David Austin English-style bush roses...which is usually an overwhelming, two-day job to tackle by hand with pruning shears and loppers. When I suggested 'hedge trimmer' to Thomas, he embraced the idea with great enthusiasm: more power (say that last phrase with a Tim Allen/Home Improvement-inspired laugh)! I'm happy to report that all 33 DA's were successfully Summer-pruned into shape with the Black&Decker...and all the debris loaded into the yard waste toter for disposal...in less time than it took me to hand-prune the 33 HTs, Minis, Fs, and Gs. The Rose Garden looks neat and clean, albeit a bit bare at the moment, but I have high hopes we will see some of those "good results" soon.

• Additionally, mid-July was the time to feed all our roses, as well as get caught up with controlling pests. At this feeding, I used a combination of 1 cup Mills Magic rose food (ordered online here: http://www.millsmix.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=122 ; yes, it's expensive but a truly excellent product...and shipping is included, which is good because I order 40# at a time) and 1 capful granular Bayer 3-in-1 (which contains insect and fungal pest control as well as some fertilizer) per bush. I have also sprayed the roses with neem oil to help with pest control, although I believe hand-removal of Japanese beetles (knocking them into the soap-&-water mixture in my coffee-canister Kill Jug) to be altogether satisfying, safe, and moderately successful. I am currently researching the Bayer product with an eye toward changing this part of my regime in the future, but for now I will use up my present supplies for 2014. 

• The Shasta Daisies I started from cuttings in 2013 are looking beautiful! They have created almost a solid hedge of green leaves topped with flowers bearing large white petals and bright yellow centers. Not only are the daisies perfect companion plants in a rose garden, they make excellent cut flowers to add to summertime arrangements. Other companion plants that are doing well in The Rose Garden include coreopsis, lambs' ears, liriope, Autumn Joy sedum, and dianthus (pinks). The Black Knight buddleas I started from cuttings are nearly six feet tall, and two volunteer giant sunflowers have also added height and color to this area of the Way Back. I replaced a couple of casualties in containers, lost to the cold winter (most regrettably, the agapanthus) with two different Japanese maple trees. Interesting to note: so far, Japanese beetles have not shown any interest in the Japanese maples.

• We have reclaimed the patio in the Rose Garden by doing a bit of furniture rearranging: the rockers moved from the front porch to the patio; the glider moved to behind the Pollinator Garden in the Orchard; and my readers chair moved to the front porch. Fruit basket turnover, right?

Front Yard —

• We tackled the chore of dividing the iris along the front walk and around the lamppost, as you see in the pic above. Here are the instructions we followed when we did that:

"Pick a day in late July or early August when the temperatures are below 90 degrees.   Irises grow from rhizomes, which are elongated stems that grow horizontally below ground and have roots attached to them.  Using a garden fork, lift the whole plant out of the ground. Snap off or use a sharp knife to cut off the vigorous ends of the rhizomes.  Make sure that there are roots attached to each portion.  The center portion is no longer productive, so you can throw it away. Before re-planting, inspect each portion and discard any that indicate the presence of Iris borers or soft rot.  Cut the foliage on healthy rhizomes to about 8 inches.  They prefer dry feet, so replant them 8-10 inches apart in well-drained soil just at or slightly below the soil line.  Don’t pile mulch over the roots.  Mulch can retain more moisture than the rhizomes can handle."    

• We replanted several fans, gave some to our neighbor, and still have a tub full for Missy M's new garden. Thomas moved a crepe myrtle sapling and also spread several bags of black mulch around that area.

• I cut back the stems of the Gethsemane mums down at the mailbox, before they began to form flowers. This allows them to delay flowering until fall. Typically you want to finish this chore by July 15. Never one to squander the opportunity to get new plants for free, I started new chrysanthemums from the cuttings. (Those started in early July should flower this fall.)

Here's how I did it: "Take a four- or five-inch cutting. Pinch off the leaves on the lower one third of the stem. (Stem cells at the base of each leaf produce the most active growth. New roots form there easily.) Remove leaves further up the stem also, leaving three or four small leaves at the cutting tip. Once leaves are removed, put each stem section into a container of water while preparing more cuttings. Pre-moisten potting mix or seed-stating mix in a wide-mouthed pot or planting tray. Use a pencil or dibble to poke holes in the soil about three inches apart. Dip the stem where the bottom leaves have been removed into rooting hormone such as Rootone. Stick one cutting in each hole. Push dirt against the stem to make good soil-to-stem contact. Place pots or a tray with cuttings in bright shade (no direct sunlight). Allow about four weeks for roots to develop. Keep the soil evenly moist while new roots form. For a week or two, expose the container to brighter light but not to full afternoon sun. Don’t let the soil dry out. Plants can then be transplanted to the garden or into larger pots. Keep new transplants well watered for a few weeks. Shield from afternoon sun for two or three days."

Whew! I could use a day off! But there's no rest for the wicked...and the righteous gardener doesn't need any!