Growing watermelons for home use should be either in the garden, If it is a big one, or in a field near the house.watermelon A sandy loam soil is best.
After thoroughly breaking and disking ground, lay off rows 8 to 10 feet apart. Hills also need to be that far apart, with 1/2 bushel of well rotted stable manure or compost and a pound of commercial fertilizer well mixed in each.
When planting watermelon, seed should be 2 to 3 Inches above the manure-fertilizer-soil mixture. Make hills two or three weeks before time to plant and 2 or 3 Inches above ground level.
The watermelon is quite frost tender and should not planted until about the time last frost usually comes. Plant five or six seeds in each hill, preferably at different places in each hill, and after all are up and growing well, thin to one or two plants.
In cultivating, turn vines as little as possible. In fact, they should not be moved after they are a few feet long. It is best to germinate seed in a hotbed in small pots and transplant, with soil on roots, after weather has warmed up in spring.
To grow large melons, the soil must be rich and the plants well fertilized, very large ones may be produced by feeding unusually well, and by pruning off all except a couple of the choicest melons on each hill.
