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How to Grow Sugar Baby Watermelon from Seed
Watermelon is a full sun favorite best if sown directly after the final spring frost but, for earliest starts, begin indoors 3-4 weeks prior. Plant 2-3 seeds 1" deep per individual cell or 6-8 ft apart directly in the garden in loamy, regularly moist, well-drained soil with a pH of 6.0-6.8.
Watermelon performs best when grown on 8-10" tall mounds of soil to ideally accommodate long, heavy trailing vines. Plants are heavy feeders, benefiting from a nitrogen-rich fertilizer every 2-3 weeks until fruiting, then reduce nitrogen in the fertilizer. Watermelon fruits are about 90 percent water and plants require heavy routine summertime watering to produce 20-30 lb melons. Smaller dwarfed types may be trellised for tighter grow spaces.
Sugar Baby Watermelon in the Vegetable Garden
Watermelon is the unofficial herald of summer and, without doubt, the largest and juiciest fruit you could possibly hope for in the garden. Most popularly known as a red-flesh fruit, watermelon is also available in both yellow and orange along with a surprising selection of shape and size. Most varieties boast 20-30 lb fruits with regular watering and, like pumpkins and gourds, may be pruned and pinched back to direct growth towards competition size melons. Smaller varieties, such as Sugar Baby, are specifically grown for their convenient 8-10 lb fruits.
Extremely productive plant turning out loads of sweet, small Organic melons perfect for the family of four. This is the small gardener's dream, where as most melons take up lots of space for just a few melons this Sugar Baby will give you loads of fruit in a small space.
Harvesting Sugar Baby Watermelon
Most watermelons are ready to harvest about 90 days from sowing or when showing signs of ripeness. The most important tip to picking vine-ripened watermelon is to locate the small tendril attached to the melon on the vine. If this tendril is completely brown and dead, the melon is ripe for harvest but, if the tendril is still even slightly green, the watermelon is not ready.
Harvest Sugar Baby Watermelons 75 days from the sowing date or once the coils of the vines have completely dried and the stem has turned brown. When checking to see if your watermelon plants are ripe enough, look for a light-yellow color and use the classic "thump" method. Give a gentle knock on the rind and listen for a hollow sound, which means they're ready to pick.
Heirloom watermelon rinds will soften slightly when ripe and feel less like an impenetrable gourd. Use scissors or shears to carefully remove watermelon from the vine.
You can harvest mature watermelons by cutting them off from their primary vine with a gardening knife. To keep Sugar Baby Watermelons fresh, it's recommended to store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. With cut watermelon, wrap in plastic to keep for 3 days.
About Sugar Baby Watermelon Seeds
Citrullus lanatus. (75-90 Days)
This is just about the earliest watermelon you are going to find. Bred to fit right inside your fridge or ice chest, this watermelon is only 6-10 lbs of bright red sweet fruit. I'm hungry already. Not only is sugar baby the perfect size, but the rind is tough enough to toss this sweet baby on ice and head to the river!
Sugar Baby seeds were cultivated in 1956 and are often referred to as "picnic" watermelons, since they can easily fit into a small container on-the-go.
Sugar Baby Watermelon is featured in the book Melons for the Passionate Grower.
Emille from the Conscious Kitchen says about Sugar Baby....
"I'm sure there are other varieties of watermelon that are still perfect at their prime, but I have not experienced such watermelon paradise as cracking open the small dark green round sugar baby and digging in to its sweet crush of fruit ever in my life."
California Master Gardener Handbook recommends Sugar Baby for California.
Recommended by the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences...
"These seed varieties have been tested and proven resilient in the Florida backyard garden."
Some of the first watermelons in the U.S. were "officially" documented in 1629 in Massachusetts. Being good Southern boys and always having watermelons at hand, but no sugar, the Confederate soldiers boiled watermelon to make sweet molasses for cooking.
Sugar Baby Watermelon Seeds Per Package:
