Quick Answer: How Do You Mulch A Watermelon?

Mulching around the watermelon plants will improve moisture retention, retard weed growth, and slowly add nitrogen rich organic matter to the soil as it breaks down. Use straw, shredded newspaper, or grass clippings in a 3 to 4 inch (8-10 cm.) layer around the melon plants.

What is the best mulch for watermelon?

Untreated grass clippings are one of the best mulches for the vegetable garden and your watermelon patch. Spread 1 inch of clippings over the soil each week. The clippings reduce weed growth and conserve moisture, while breaking down as nitrogen. You’re also using a free, readily available resource.

When should I mulch my watermelon?

Even where winters are not severe, gardeners can use a black plastic mulch to heat the soil, retain moisture and prevent soil-borne disease for a better watermelon crop. Unlike most plants, the time to mulch watermelons is in late winter, before you plant the first seed or transplant.

Should I put straw around watermelon?

When you’ve got watermelon fruits growing, you’ll want to make sure they don’t touch the soil. In order to grow great watermelons, you’ll need to put a barrier between the watermelons and the ground. This is to reduce the risk of rot and disease. Good ground barriers are straw, or even cardboard.

Should I cover my watermelons?

For best nutrient uptake, the soil pH should be between 6 and 6.8, although the plants will tolerate a pH as low as 5. After planting, cover seedlings with floating row covers to keep out insects and trap warm air near plants. Watermelon vines bear male and female flowers.

Should you put mulch around watermelon plants?

Mulching around the watermelon plants will improve moisture retention, retard weed growth, and slowly add nitrogen rich organic matter to the soil as it breaks down. Use straw, shredded newspaper, or grass clippings in a 3 to 4 inch (8-10 cm.) layer around the melon plants.

Can you grow watermelons on mulch?

Your new best friend as far as growing watermelons is mulch. Mulch not only suppresses weeds by smothering them and not letting light reach them, it keeps the ground warm; holding heat in the soil. It also keeps moisture in the ground allowing you more time between waterings.

How do you use black plastic mulch for watermelons?

Lay the black plastic mulch over the entire bed, pushing the edges into the trench. Refill the trench with the removed soil and tamp it into place. This holds the mulch down so wind doesn’t pull it up. Cut a 3-inch diameter hole in the plastic mulch for each watermelon seedling, spacing the holes 3 feet apart.

What is black plastic mulch?

What is black plastic mulch? Black plastic mulch gardening basically refers to laying a black plastic film over the space you are using as your vegetable garden so the plastic can prevent weeds from growing. We cut small holes or long trenches in the black plastic in order to plant the things we want to grow.

What do you put under watermelon?

Instead, place small patches of plastic sheeting, coarse straw or a piece of plywood directly under melon fruits that have become at least softball sized. As long as the melon doesn’t rest directly atop wet soil or mulch, there’s much less chance for the melon’s underside to rot.

How do you keep watermelon from rotting on the ground?

Other preventative measures you can take include keeping the watermelon off the ground as they grow and develop. Use a cage, plastic mulch, stakes, straw mulch or other materials to protect the fruit from the ground. You can even use a wooden board for the fruit to rest on as it matures.

How do I make my watermelon sweeter when growing?

Heat brings out melons’ sweetness, so make sure to plant them in a location that warms up early in spring and stays hot through the end of September. The south side of a fence or wall is ideal as the structure will absorb heat and light from the sun and reflect it back onto the melons.

Can watermelons withstand frost?

No, watermelons cannot survive frost. Freezing temperatures will cause the fruit to wither and die on the vine. A watermelon covered in frost, even for a short period of time, will turn mushy and inedible.

Can watermelon grow on top of grass?

If you don’t have room in the garden for watermelon vines, think about growing them in the middle of the lawn. The vines will ramble all over the lawn, and you will have to mow around them. But, the watermelon foliage will shade most of the grass underneath it and slow growth.

How do you protect watermelon from pests?

How to Keep Bugs Off Watermelons

1. Avoid planting the watermelons too early in the season when the soil is cold.
2. Use floating row covers to keep the soil warm and to protect the plants from green peach aphids (Myzus persicae), a common watermelon pest.
3. Prevent additional watermelon stresses, such as infertile, dry soil.