My watermelon seedlings have been outside for three months now, and it’s safe to assume that I can no longer call them “seedlings.” The plants have become sprawling, full-fledged vines that have begun to take over the corner of my yard where I planted them.
To be honest, I’m a little nervous. I planted the seedlings in a tiny plot of land – admittedly too small (about six feet long and three feet wide) – and they’re already trying to grow outside the plot stretching further with each passing week. When they reach outside the garden, I have to gently steer them back into the watermelon patch in order to avoid running them over with the lawn mower.
I’m also shocked by how fast the watermelon are growing. The first tiny watermelon appeared on the vines about five weeks ago (I noticed them when they were the size of a nickel) and they’re already as big as a baseball. At this rate, they might be the size of a baby elephant by the end of the growing season. I kid, of course. I’m actually a little concerned about their still relatively small size, but they’re not supposed to be very large even when full-grown, so we’ll see.
The Sugar Baby variety that I planted will reportedly mature and be ready for harvest 80 days after the first tiny watermelon appeared. That means I should have a fully grown watermelon (roughly the size of a volleyball) sometime in early October. Yup, early October. Just in time to be carved into a jack-o-lantern for Halloween.