There are many products available depending on what you are trying to achieve. I favor the biodegradable fabrics and papers, of which there are several, to plastic ones, but durability must be a part of the equation for most people, so plastics remain popular. You can find it in rolls in the gardening section at most big box hardware stores and garden centers, I like FEDCO because they're an independent Maine co-op that tries to keep prices low and focuses on ecologically responsible products. You can, however occasionally find a good buy at fabric remnant stores, and carpeting stores often have rolls of old carpet or underlayment that has been removed when new is installed that they will gladly give you. Carpeting is not always ideal - it may be treated with flame retardant, rubberized, or peed on - but for serious weed suppression it is very effective and affordable. Just be sure to remove it, or any plastic, before it begins to break down. Also, many of the big box stores have rolls available at reduced prices in fall and winter; for people with large areas to cover and a little storage space, it makes sense to stock up. Larger agricultural suppliers actually offer rolls as wide as 40', which makes covering large areas much easier (with a few extra bodies to help) and reduces the number of pins needed to hold it in place. In addition to weed suppression fabrics help to conserve moisture and wrm the soil. In some cases, you may need to add a light colored mulch on top of the fabric for crops that prefer a cooler environment, and for aesthetic reasons you may want to top it with a more natural looking mulch as well, With plastic-based mulches, covering has the added benefit of educing he damage done by the suns' UV rays, thus prolonging its useful life. Aside from looks and the whole plastic problem, fabric ground covers can also be a haven for unwanted guests - snakes (which I actually welcome, though many gardeners don't) and rodents in particular. Here is a link that might be useful: Garden fabric

Hi Podpiper, I'm growing 3 kinds of watermelon, OrangeGlo Blacktail Mountain Missouri Yellow and 6 kinds of melon Hale's Best Kansas Missouri Gold Oran's Melon Thayer Minnesota Midget I've gotten 1 Hale's and 3 Midgets so far- and the midgets are very good - nice and sweet, and fairly musky, but they REALLY ripen fast once they start. On saturday I checked all melons, and none were ripe, but a few looked like they migh be about to start to turn - Sunday it rained all day and I couldnt' go look. Monday after work, i had 2 midgets laying on the ground loose from the vine and fully ripe!

We are in the SF Bay Area also. We just plant the seeds directly into the ground. They take off quite fast. I think we usually plant in March but this year we have alot of rain so I think it will happen later. After all these years with this melon it seems that it doesn't really matter if we do a headstart in pots or not. The plant actually seems hardier when it is sown outdoors. HwLee... our very first year we grew these were from 4 seeds that were given to my mom. We harvested well over 200 melons that summer and autumn! I did tend to the vines often with Miracle Grow etal...Since I didn't remember where the root of it was I sprayed the entire plant every 2-3 weeks. As the years past I didn't even bother to fertilize or even water. It grows like a weed! We barely watered them after the vines were about 3 feet long. And my mom has even cut up and dried some of the melons. They actually make a much tastier stock. Though they are darker in color. Wellspring... These melons if they are fully matured can keep for years. The way my mom has taught me to check for fully matured melons is to check the hardness of the skin. It is full ripe if you can't put your thumb nail through the exterior. We just leave them until I can see the stem of the melon starts to turn brownish. And still you can use the seeds from that same melon to dry. I have done this frequently. You can also use these melon like a hairy gourd melon when they are young. I think in a similiar thread somebody told me his Filipino wife harvest shoots and stirfried them. I'm a bit leary since they seem so hairy! Good luck your SFM this year! I was trying to post some pics but the files are too big for GW.

Gamebird, Watermelons give subtle ripeness clues, although some varieties give better clues than others. The tendral that's closest on the vine to the watermelon turns brown and dries when the melon is ripe. The color on the underside of the melon that touches the ground turns a dull, creamy yellow color and, with some melons, it gets a slightly rough texture. Also, once you've grown a particular variety and know how large it tends to get in your soil and your conditions, then the size of the melon is also a clue because a melon is not likely to be ripe if it weights 15 lbs. and the standard melon for that plant is 25-30 lbs. Finally, when you thump a ripe melon, it makes more of a hollow, dull sound whereas an unripe melon makes a sharper, ringing sound. I don't pick a watermelon until it meets all 4 criteria--the size has to be right for that variety, the underside a creamy-yellow and often roughly textured, the tendral dried and the thumping sound. If a melon only meets 1 or 2 of the criteria, it is ripening but not fully ripe. However, if it meets all 4 criteria, it never fails to be ripe. With muskmelons (generally called cantaloupes in this country although they are not true cantaloupes), you have to check daily because they can go from "not quite ripe" to "ripe" overnight. With many of them, the aroma is a dead giveaway. Also, the abscission layer at the stem will crack and you can gently tug at the melon. Once the abscission layer is about 75% separated from the vine, the melon is ripe and separates from the vine with only the gentlest tug. If you use a more forecible tug to yank a melon off the vine when the abscission layer is only about 50% cracked, the melon will not be as good as if you left it on the vine until it is at full slip (75% to almost 100% cracked). Other melons like true cantaloupes and inodorus (like canary, casaba and crenshaw melons) are harder to judge. With some of them, there is a color change that is very obvious although it is hard to know what to look for the first time you grow a particular melon. Collective Farm Woman is a very dark green as it grows, for example, but turns a deep golden yellow as it ripens. Different melons may exhibit more subtle changes as the primary color takes on a hue that changes from a gray or greenish color to one that is more brown or yellow. Melons that are in the reticulatas family and have a more netted appearance will get increasing amounts of netting as they ripen. The more coarse the netting and the more widespread it is on the melon, the better the flavor. Most netted melons get softer as they get riper too. Among the hardest to judge in terms of ripeness are the melons of the inodorus type like crenshaw, canary and casaba melons. They also tend to have a very long DTM. These melons don't have any netting to judge them by, they lack smell until after they've been cut open, they don't get softer, etc. With them, you'll have to go more by the DTM and very subtle clues like the most subtle of color changes and the appearance of tiny cracks in the rind. Hope this info helps. Dawn