What’s Happening With My Watermelons? The Grumpy Gardener Explains

About This Episode

Advice for growing and caring for watermelons. Plus, the Grumpy Gardener’s plant of the week is an easy herb.

Question Of The Week

"This is our first year to grow watermelons. The plants are thriving and producing lots of melons. But, now they're starting to rot on the bottom and burst open. It's very hot. So, I water twice a day. Is this the cause?"

Grumpy's Answer: You know watermelons are about 100% water. Well they're 99% and the skin and everything. So, they do need a constant source of moisture in the soil when they're growing. But, if you overdo it, if you just flood the ground while the fruits on the plant, sometimes what happens is the plant drinks too fast, and it absorbs more water than the skin of the fruit can contain because the skin of the fruit is not growing as fast as the water intake. And so, basically, the fruit will just burst.

1. One way to avoid doing this is you want to have your soil to be evenly moist, but you don't want to drown the plant. So, I would say, around your plants, put down a good layer of mulch. Because the mulch will help excess water drain away, but it will also keep the soil beneath it evenly moist. If you ever have a question of whether the soil is moist or not, just stick your finger in the top inch of soil and just test it out.
2. Also, remember that if it's a hot sunny day, a plant may wilt, even though the soil is perfectly moist. So, just wait until the sun gets off of the leaves and see if they don't perk up. If they do, that means the soil has moisture in it.
3. Another thing that you will want to do is, I mentioned mulching before, you never want to have your watermelons laying on bare soil because that almost guarantees that the part of it that is on the bottom is gonna rot. So, put a layer of mulch under those fruit and get them off the bare soil because mulch drains much quicker than soil does, and you don't wanna keep it wet right up against the skin of the fruit.
   

Plant Of The Week

Basil

A lot of people like to grow herbs. And so, I want to talk today about one of the easiest of all herbs to grow, and actually one of the best ones to have in your garden in my opinion, and that is basil. Basil is so simple, all it wants is moist soil and sun. And, you can plant it from seed or it's very easy just to get as little seedlings that you get in the garden center. It loves sun. It loves heat.It's a, really a tropical plant. I love to use it for culinary reasons in the kitchen.

About Ask Grumpy

Ask Grumpy is a podcast featuring Steve Bender, also known as Southern Living’s Grumpy Gardener. For more than 30 years, Grumpy has been sharing advice on what to grow, when to plant, and how to manage just about anything in your garden. Tune in for short episodes every Wednesday and Saturday as Grumpy answers reader questions, solves seasonal conundrums, and provides need-to-know advice for gardeners with his very Grumpy sense of humor. Be sure to follow Ask Grumpy on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen so you don't miss an episode.

Editor’s Note: Please be mindful that this transcript does not go through our standard editorial process and may contain inaccuracies and grammatical errors.