I spent three years turning my balcony into a watermelon maze. But I didn’t stop at just watermelons. Unknowingly, I set the stage for my balcony to blossom into a whole web of melons in the melon family. And today, I’m excited to guide you on exactly how I did this, so you can grow your very own baby melon haven on your balcony, too.
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Some cool facts you’ll learn in this video about watermelons and the melon family:
1. Watermelons are believed to be one of the oldest known cultivated crops.
2. Watermelons are made of over 90% water.
3. Watermelons come in various shapes, sizes, varieties and colours, ranging from the traditional round or oval fruit that we all know to smaller, more compact varieties.
4. The heaviest watermelon on record weighed over 350 pounds, more than two of me! Under ideal conditions, some varieties of watermelons can grow up to 2 inches per day. That is 5 centimetres per day, so they can grow bigger than my head.
5. Most watermelons come seedless in the grocery store. The reason is because they are cultivated through a specialized breeding process and picked early, so seeds end up being underdeveloped. Consumers like seedless watermelons for the element of convenience.
6. You can’t grow watermelon seeds unless the seeds are dark in colour. The dark seeds are always viable for growing, but the translucent seeds are not.
7. Some gardeners practice companion planting by growing watermelons alongside other crops like corn or radishes to maximize space and discourage pests.
8. In order for watermelons to grow, pollinators like bees and butterflies come buzzing around in your garden. They poke their heads in the male flowers and bring pollen to the female flowers. That’s the only way watermelons will sprout. You can hand pollinate your flowers using a little brush.
9. To determine if a watermelon is ripe for harvest, you should look for signs like a dull rind, a creamy yellow spot on the underside (where it sat on the ground), and a hollow sound when thumped. I also heard that the sweeter watermelons have a smaller vine hole on the top side where it’s picked from the vine plant, but I haven’t been able to confirm this myself yet.
10. Cantaloupes and watermelons are two fruits that come from different families, which means they have different genetic characteristics, making it more complex for the cantaloupes to be bred as seedless, but easier for the watermelons. You can almost always germinate cantaloupe seeds straight from the fruit, whereas you can only grow watermelon seeds if they are darker in colour.
11. I learned that there is a fruit called muskmelon. Cantaloupes and muskmelons are often used interchangeably in some regions, leading to confusion, but they are not technically the same. Cantaloupes are a type of muskmelon, but they have a distinct flavour and appearance, and they vary in colour from beige to orange. Whereas muskmelons range from green, orange or white.
12. There is something that exists called a watermelon radish. It’s named for its appearance, which resembles a miniature watermelon. The outer skin of a watermelon radish is typically pale green or white, while the inside flesh is a vibrant pink or magenta, similar to the colours found in a watermelon. We grew them.
13. There are fruits that exist called watermelon guavas. They are basically the watermelon of guavas. They are pink and taste like a hybrid of a watermelon and a guava - there are just so many seeds that are hard to chew, but the flavour it self is outstanding.
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So…go grow your watermelons, cantaloupes, watermelon radishes, watermelon guavas, and literally any fruit you can get your hands on with ‘watermelon’ in its name…because nature will reward you and your modes of sustainability in just 12 weeks.
Creating our very own baby melon haven was a wild ride that I’m thankful I got to share with you.
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Thank you guys so much. Without you, none of this would be possible, so it means the world to me that you spent the time watching my video and it would equally mean as much to me if you like, comment, follow, subscribe and remember that on this channel we take the seeds from inside exotic fruits and grow them into full blown house plants that fruit.
Always remember that I LOVE YOU and… ill see you next week.
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TIMESTAMP:
00:00 - 01:33 Watermelon 1 - Viable vs. Unviable Seeds
01:33 - 03:43 Watermelon 2 - Stages of Seeds
03:43 - 05:54 Watermelon Seeds From The Package
05:54 - 09:50 Watermelon From Watermelon, In A Pot/Garden Box
09:50 - 11:53 Cantaloupe 1
11:53 - 12:18 Muskmelon
12:18 - 14:35 Watermelon Radish
14:35 - Homegrown Watermelon Guava
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