Watermelons for trade in Europe are mostly imported from countries such as Spain, Hungary or Turkey. The warmer climate of these growing areas can also be simulated in the greenhouse at home.

Preparing the young plants

So that you can also harvest fresh and juicy watermelons from your own greenhouse, you must plant the seeds in the spring in good time. So that the plants can be planted in the greenhouse from around mid-May, sowing on the windowsill must be done about four weeks beforehand. Make sure that you place the melon seeds individually in a small pot or in a peat pot as soon as possible. This saves early pricking out and thus protects the very sensitive roots of the young melon plants.

Refining the watermelons for even better yields

You don't necessarily have to graft the watermelons, but this gardening finesse can give you higher yields and protect you from various melon diseases. A young plant of fig leaf gourd is usually used as a base for grafting. The two plants are carefully connected to each other by means of an ablation with a counter-tongue. After a few days, the top part can be removed from the fig leaf gourd. After a little more time, you can also separate the original melon root so that no pathogens can penetrate the plant through it. The greatest advantage of this procedure is not only the better supply of water and nutrients to the grafted plant, but also effective protection against root diseases.

Give the watermelon room to grow in the greenhouse

Watermelon shoots tend to grow in the direction of light and heat. In the greenhouse you therefore need a trellis, which you can build yourself from the following materials:

  • metal scaffolding
  • wooden slats
  • thick cords with a rough surface

Build a sufficiently stable trellis for the watermelons, which can also carry the increasingly heavy fruits until they are fully ripe. If necessary, you can also place small tables or wooden pegs under the fruits hanging on the tendrils as storage.

tips and tricks

Watermelons not only like it warm, but also evenly moist. In the greenhouse, the soil substrate is easier to keep moist in a pot than outdoors.

Category:

Vegetable garden