Viewing comments posted by Intheswamp

As basically a second-year gardener, I was fortunate to select the Mini Love Hybrid watermelon for this year's watermelon. Having planted Wilson Sweets last year and having had difficulty with them (and other vegetables), I decided to try a hybrid this year.

My garden is roughly 1500 square feet and since I try to grow many other things, I try to pay attention to plant sizes, especially vining plants, and the Mini Love had some good size characteristics for me.

The entire garden was fertilized early this spring with alfalfa pellets and later in the season after blooms appeared with a single side-dressing of Tomato-Tone fertilizer. The pH tested at 5.9 this year, up from last year...a small amount of lime was added to nudge the pH up a tad. During the season, during dry spells I irrigated with a drip-tape system.

The Mini Love was advertised as a compact plant with small (for watermelons) fruit. The size of the plant and the fruit did not disappoint us. I think the advertised vine was something like 4' long, but I believe ours did reach out beyond that length...more like 6' or so. The watermelons were all in the size range of 8-10 pounds each. The plants and fruit were healthy with little bug damage and no notable disease...and in my garden pest and pestilence is *tough*! For example, immediately beside the Mini Loves are Charantais cantaloupe growing. I had a rough time with the cantaloupe...mostly splitting to begin with, but now some critter(s) are dining on them each night...the watermelons immediately beside them are untouched!

The plants grew strong and healthy and produced some pretty fruit, but the proof's in the puddin'. The taste was very good...old-time watermelon taste with a high sugar level to it...crisp texture...few seeds. A great, small watermelon. It's love (Mini Love!!!) at first sight! My (short) search for a watermelon to grow in my new garden ended very quickly...the Mini Love Hybrid has won the spot! Try it. You won't regret it!