I haven't tried them but I'm sure anxious to hear how they do for you. I'd love to grow watermelon.

My sister got one or two melons per plant, smallish, the size people refer to as icebox watermelons (they fit in a refrigerator), sweet and yummy. And that was in a summer that was cool. Previously, before lucking onto Blacktail Mountain seed, she could only get an edible melon in exceptionally long and hot summers. This summer is hot! - so I'm hoping!!!

Jeanne

Jeanne I would really like to get some seeds from you to try the melon out next year !!! I actually live off blacktail My Mother lives down in Cocolalla on the Butler creek side, so were neighbors !

Happy August 1st , we dropped down to 34 degrees last night !

I have a new raised bed (block construction) garden and now I'm thinking of building a removable PVC pipe hoop house to go over the top.... better get started on my plan or i'll only get green tomatoes this year!

My goodness, in these parts that qualifies you as a neighbor! I'm on a private road off Blacktail Road also.

Unfortunately, I doubt I'll have enough melons to want to keep one for saving seed, but maybe we could share the next purchase of seeds??

I thought the house got awfully cold with the windows open last night, and the night before, too. If I were still gardening down in my cold-sink field, everything would have frosted. It's 8-12 degrees cooler there than anywhere else, at night. We always got a few midsummer light frosts there. But that DOESN'T mean it won't hit 80 or 90 during the day. Gotta love it!

Jeanne

I googled for the seed and found a place to order it. How large does it get? Not the fruit but the plant. I planted a spagetti squash and it is taking over the whole area I planted it in. I definately will need to plant it somewhere else next year as it is a real thug.lol My veggy garden isn't that large but I do have room to make it bigger.

mla2ofus, where did you find a place to order the seeds?? I would like to try some next year. I have black plastic on my garden sight to try and kill the knapweed, grass and tansy, plus wild morning glories and crown vetch. It was allowed to go "native" for a few years. I am excited to get the orchard back up and running and getting all the nox. weeds out. Jeanne and Jomamma, I live just a ways up from Blacktail. I bet we are all neighbors!!! :0) PS. Cow panels, which sell for about 14. also make great temporary green house forms.

I found it at Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. The seeds are $2.90.

Wow! I'm already getting great tips just browsing through here!

I haven't ordered from them before so I don't know how good they are. I think there's something called a garden watchdog that rates catalogs. I'll see if I can find out about them.

Hi all! As you can see I'm not from Idaho, but I came across your discussion when looking for info on Blacktail Mtn. watermelon. Just thought I'd add that Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds has these for $2.50 (pkt is 25-35 seeds) and Seed Savers Exchange has them for $2.50 also for pkt of 25. They were developed by Glenn Drowns of Sandhill Preservation Center so he may offer them in his catalog also.
I'm growing these myself this summer and although only one plant survived for me it has a nice fat, almost ripe melon and some smaller ones on the way. I'm hopefull they will do well at this point.
Karen

In case you're interested - here's the story of Blacktail Mountain watermelon. Sounds like Glenn grew up in your backyard!

Here is a link that might be useful: Glenn Drowns & Blacktail

Oh yeah - if yer gonna grow them, you might as well buy the seed from the guy that created 'em -

http://www.sandhillpreservation.com/

Here is a link that might be useful: or here

Thanks for both links moulman. I enjoyed reading about Glenn Drowns and plan on looking at his web site when I have a few minutes. I'm glad I read that also as it said the plants grow about 10 foot across so I'll REALLY need to plan for that large of space!

Hello, I am new to this forum. I live at 3,000ft in clearwater county and I have cool 35-40 degree summer nights. I grew blacktail mountain last year and am growing it again this year. Melons are near full size now so they should be ripe in early september. Last year i got 3 melons before the first hard frost which was september 11.

jeanne_in_idaho - you can save the seeds from the ones you eat too, you don't have to save one just for seeds

mla2ofus - the vines don't get very big in cold climates, mine are just 3-4 feet long and they can be pruned so they don't get longer

there are many seed sources to choose from by I got mine from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Geez, my vines aren't even close to 4 feet long now. The 3 melons (exactly one per plant) are all only about 4" in diameter. I'm wondering whether I should have fed them better or planted them in a wetter spot. They don't have much time left now.

By contrast, the spaghetti squash vines are HUGE and absolute thugs. I have 9 or 10 big fruits on only 3 vines.

moulman, thanks for the links. It was fun reading about Glenn. And I will buy directly from him next year.

Jeanne

jeanne_in_idaho- The Melons don't get that big when grown here, I have 6 plants with 1 melon on each. They are 3-5 inches in diameter and as big as they are going to get. They do need lots of water in July and part of august, when they reach full size they don't need any water to ripen. I plant mine on raised beds on the south side of a tin shed so they have extra heat.

idaho mountain, thanks, now I KNOW I need to get them into the warmest possible spot and give them more water, maybe more food, next year. It looks like my watermelons are going to finish at about 3-5" in diameter. I don't suppose they'll ripen. This is my first year growing veggies and fruits, although I'm an experienced gardener otherwise (I've decorative-gardened in two different climates for about 15 years, and grew and sold cutting flowers for eight years but quit last fall), so my learning curve is pretty steep. Floriculture is quite different from veggie-culture, as I'm finding out! Veggie-culture is actually quite a bit easier in many ways, but there's NO source that tells you how all the different plants grow in this climate. With flowers, I learned it by experience. Now I'm trying to learn from all you folks' experience!

Jeanne

I just purchased the blacktail mtn. watermelon and I live in Boise Idaho. I am just wondering if you started it indoors to give it a head start or direct seeded it. It seems the start would be helpful since it needs a long growing season, but I have heard to direct seed it in the ground. Any advice?

My understanding is that you can start it indoors. I did this with my muskmelon and I got a good crop.