Golden Acre Home & Garden Centre's Plant Library

Other Names:  Asian Watermelon

Description:

A wonderful compact vining variety perfect for small gardens; produces round to oval shaped melons with light green rinds and dark green stripes; deep red flesh is sweet, juicy and crisp, a perfect treat in the hot summer sun

Edible Qualities

Mini Love Watermelon is an annual vegetable plant that is commonly grown for its edible qualities. It produces small light green round fruit with dark green stripes and red flesh which are typically harvested when mature. The fruits have a sweet taste and a juicy texture.

The fruit are most often used in the following ways:

• Fresh Eating
• Eating When Cooked/Prepared
• Juice-Making
• Freezing

Planting & Growing

Mini Love Watermelon will grow to be about 3 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 3 feet. When planted in rows, individual plants should be spaced approximately 3 feet apart. Because of its vigorous growth habit, it may require staking or supplemental support. This vegetable plant is an annual, which means that it will grow for one season in your garden and then die after producing a crop.

This plant is typically grown in a designated vegetable garden. It should only be grown in full sunlight. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. This plant is a heavy feeder that requires frequent fertilizing throughout the growing season to perform at its best. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in rich soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone over the growing season to conserve soil moisture. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Mini Love Watermelon is a good choice for the vegetable garden, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. With its upright habit of growth, it is best suited for use as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.