Gardening with Allen Wilson: Three new vegetables win awards

Vigorous 5-foot disease-resistant vines produce early and with higher yields. First fruits mature about 90 to 100 days from transplanting.

Watermelon Mambo is a very early variety especially for short season climates. This hybrid produces round-shaped melons weighing about 4 pounds. Flesh is deep orange and sweet. Smaller seeds makes it resemble a seedless melon. Melons do not over-ripen if left on the vine a week or two beyond maturity. Rapid seed germination and healthy, vigorous 12-foot vines.

These three new varieties are easily started from seed indoors as described in last week’s column. It takes only four weeks from seed planting to transplantable plants.

I have had good success planting cucumbers, melons, squash and pumpkin seeds directly outside. I plant three or four seeds in hills spaced about 4 feet apart for the cucumber and pumpkin and 10 feet apart for the melon. I cover seed with bark dust instead of soil which makes it easier for the seedlings to push through. Then I cover each hill with a gallon milk jug with the bottom cut off. I push the jug into the ground and place 2 inches of soil around it to stabilize it against the wind.

This creates a mini-greenhouse effect which warms the soil enough for seed to germinate in about 2 weeks. Leave the lid on the jug until seed germinates and make sure the soil stays moist. After sprouting, remove the lid in the daytime for ventilation and put it on at night. I plant seeds in mid-April. There is no danger of frost damage while seed is in the ground. Milk jugs give 2 or 3 degrees of frost protection. If temperature is predicted below 30 degrees, I cover the jugs with towels or blankets, using rocks or soil to hold them in place. When daytime temperature reaches 75 degrees, I remove the jugs. Plants are usually larger than ones available for transplanting and are well-established so they grow quickly. Seed sources are available at All-AmericaSelections.org.