zone5a east hartford, ct. first year growing watermelons and I'm pretty happy. Growing Jubilee and we've gotten 5 so far and am hoping to get a few more although i know there is not much time left. I know they are growable in CT as I used to raid the neighbors garden in the late 60s and those tasted even better than mine. I had not had any success until this year and I attribute that at least partly to following the suggestion about digging a post hole and filling it with compost. I also feel part of my success was as a result of covering the top of the soil with about 4 inches of shredded leaf compost which kept moisture in the soil even after 5 weeks of no rain here. I didn't want to water because of reading about the sugar concentration at the end of the growing cycle. At this point, about 1/3 of my plants are showing signs of fungus but the rest of the leaves are pretty green and healthy looking. Having read in an earlier post about first year always being the best as far as growing watermelons, I am wondering if I need to move my watermelon growing spot a bit and if so, how far from current one. The compost on top of the soil thing I got from watching the documentary film Back to Eden from 2011 and there is a part of me that hopes that the same spot with new compost on top might work, but I expect the smarter people will tell me that that is not going to work. Hoping to retire maybe to Delaware so I can extend the growing season in about 2 yrs. With a bit more land than 1/4 acre and a bit more warmth, maybe I can become successful in growing more varieties!!!

I used to grow Early Canada (the regular one, not the "improved" one... it was about 30 years ago) when I lived near Ottawa, ON (zone 5). It was an iffy crop there -- if it was a long hot summer I would get quite a few to ripen but if it was a cold summer I would get few, maybe none to ripen. And if they weren't ripe by early September, they were never going to ripen (as fruitnut points out about ripening temperature). They never got to 10-15 lbs. Five or 6 lbs was probably average. I don't know if the improved ones are bigger, earlier, or both. Try to make it as warm as possible for them, and good luck.

I am trying to think of any other reasons that might be afoot here. Have a soil test done right now and maybe you can prepare the bed for next year. Be sure to inform the tester what you plant to grow. I grew them in both zone 4 and 5 and have never used black plastic. I believe it does more damage than any benefit from the heat it gathers. Kills nematodes, cooks worms, blocks water, etc... I wonder if, in zone 6, if it may cook the roots. Don't use landscapers fabric. It is almost as bad as plastic even though it lets water through. If I were to grow them again, I would put down 5 sheets of newspaper covered with straw. I use that with my annual beds and it seriously stops weeds the first year. If you want a more cosmetic finish, use cooked/chopped hay for 2x the price. If you want to know how to do this and not have to fight the wind, let me know. I will explain. You can get larger fruit if you trim the vines after two to three melons are set then later thin out to the best one per vine. How large of an area? If you have enough room, let several melons set and check to see that the vines have rooted between them then cut right after each melon. Effectively, you have separate plants from one. Was the rot on the bottom in contact with the soil or was it at the blossom end? Blossom-End Rot may be caused by lack of nutrients. Some people will claim that BER is only on tomatoes but I have seen it on any vine fruit plant. Did the vines rot or just dry up? Did the leaves turn yellow (could be too much water). Starting seeds too early can be a mess with long unmanageable vines before it is warm enough to set outside. You also have to condition house-grown plants to the wind and sun (hardening off) before they will tolerate being outside. Use pro-mix soil to assure a good start. May to Sept should be long enough to plant seeds directly in the soil. Did you set the seeds in hills? It works better as they will be warmer. Did you water at night or continuously? Either one can be bad for the plant and may cause rot. Soaker hoses work better but be sure to let the soil dry between watering cycles. Design something that only waters the main root. The rest of the plant should fend for itself. Enough already? (:

My family always grew 20-40 acres of watermelon each year when I was a teenager, which has been a few decades now. We would always plant custom greenhouse grown plants that were about 4 to 6 inches tall, so I can't help on the from seed part. (I don't remember exactly how many, but it was measured in 32 ft trailer loads, usually 2 or 3 per year, from the greenhouse nearly 200 miles away) I can tell you that we grew them with no irrigation with the plants planted in rows of black plastic mulch (trash bag material), the best melon production was in years with moderate spring rains, excess rain caused inferior melon production or failed crops. This was in SW Louisiana, areas with sandy soil generally had the best production, most of our land was fine sandy loam soil, however the best melons were always from the more sandy regions. As to fertilizer I remember we always added a lot of extra potassium when preparing the soil in the watermelon patch each year.