Blacktail Mountain Watermelon

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Maw Hawk

Is it possible or advisable to grow melons on the ground amongst you tomato plants? I saw at a farm this past summer that they were letting squash vines sprawl amongst their corn stalks.

MawkHawk,

I wouldn’t advise it, there is a big difference in the way you grow corn and tomatoes.
The Indians did this practice, years ago with squash and corn.

I think the melons would drag the tomatoes down and become a tangled mess.



Feldon and to all others concerned,

That black gumbo soil you have down there is not the best soil to grow melons in.
They get big and they look pretty but they are not sweet, this is due to the fact that the soil holds too much water.
Some of the best melons in the state and elsewhere are grown in sandy or soil that is well drained.
Too much water makes berries and melons tart and or not sweet.
The blackberries that are wild in the hills on one of my places are like eating sugar.
The blackberries that I have picked down by the coast in the black gumbo are nasty, there are millions of them but they aren’t worth feeding to the dogs.
The melons grown in the valley are grown for quantity not quality the same as everything else.
So in short, if you guys are not familiar with growing these crops don’t over water them.
If you are trying to grow them in a rainy loblolly area, it is best to plant them in a raised bed with sandy loam soil that is well drained.
If they get to much water at the early part of their life the plants will produce more vine than melons.
And lay low on the nitrogen.
These aren’t just my opinions they are the opinions of some old timers that have grown them for years in a big way.
One of them grew the best melons in the area around Bend Texas about 40 acres of them.
He and his wife were my Dad’s old school chum’s and the last time I talked to him on melons he was about 75 and still growing melons, that was in 1989.
His wife had her own LARGE garden, ‘they couldn’t agree on how to do things.
I only had a small 1 acre garden.
So you guys do as you please I will grow the way the old-timers taught me. :wink:


Later,

Worth