Try cutting back on the amount of water overall, It is not just the inconsistentcy of watering, I think. It is also rapid growth along with too much water. I know how disappointing it is to have them split when they are just beginning to turn pink, and there is nothing that you can do to save them. Some varieties seem to be more prone to splitting than others, like the little . You may not have as much problem with the Black Diamond splitting, hopefully. Bill P.

Thanks farmerdill! I've never had much luck growing watermelon, so I'm not terribly shocked at this occurrence! Just hadn't experienced this particular problem......... LOL! I use drip fertigation & mulch well, but may have got things too wet........ I dunno..... And yes, if your garden is producing anything in these turbulent weather times, one should be grateful.

Make sure you have sufficient irrigation. Water stressed melons will split after a heavy rain. If they are normally well watered (with sufficient drainage), this will help avoid splitting. If you harvest at the proper time, you have a better chance of avoiding splitting. The more over ripe the watermelon, the more prone it is to splitting. The watermelons should be ready for harvesting when it's vine tendril turns brown. The tendril is located where the stem of the watermelon meets the vine. It looks like a pig's tail. This happens between 35 and 40 days after their full bloom.

chuckurso1, If I go 2 ft. down I would need a back hoe, which I don't have, and I would just create a slow draining pond. The way I combat shallow soil is to try to amend the soil and making it deeper. I like to build a berm on the low side of my garden with some type of organic matter. The berm helps with erosion, and as it decays I toss it on the garden and build another berm with whatever organic matter I have access to. Here is the berm on the south end of my south garden. The sweet potatoes are growing over the berm. This year my berm is wood chips, last year it was hay. You can see that Johnson grass has pretty well taken over my sweet potatoes because of the Jonson grass seed in last years berm being tilled into the soil. We have had a lot of hot days this summer and I have had trouble getting the fall garden started, so I tried starting greens in the shade in my north garden. The germination was much better, but I expect the growth to be slower, but that will work till I can get later plantings to catch up. This is my newest garden, it was started this year. Above the garden you can see my supply of scrap hay, I plan on using for berms or mulch. The hay is a little rough for mulch, but I will use it if I cant find anything better. Across the highway you can see my wildlife garden area, I have 6 small gardens over there, all are larger than this one. I have had health issues this year an the place looks a little "scrappy", but with the weather cooling off I will start getting things cleaned up.