- All right, so tell me, how do you know when it's the best time to pick that perfect melon?

- Oh, we could probably write a book about that.

- Is there anywhere else in Utah that can compete against your melons?

- I, well, I haven't tasted everybody else's melons, but we pride ourselves in being the best.

- Hey, it's Cynthia here with another episode of Modern Gardener and more on melons.

I'm super excited because we went to the epicenter of melons for Utah, which is Green River, and I gotta talk to the famous Dunham Farms where they have the sweetest, most juiciest, just dripping from your chin, melons.

And they tell us everything they know about growing them.

Before we get into it, I wanna give a quick shout out to our sponsors, Merit Medical and Red Butte Gardens, who makes episodes like this possible.

So make sure you hit that thumbs up, subscribe and get ready for all the tips and tricks.

Okay.

So tell me why Green River is the best place to grow Melons.

- We have hot days, cool nights.

An arid climate will give you that big temperature swing, and we work on soil biology and the, the microbiome of the soil and we have special muddy Green River water that gives them that, that special flavor -That special sweetness Yeah.

Yeah.

- So, Chris, give me a couple tips.

What are your pest problems and how do you deal with them?

- Anything and everything will eat a watermelon.

- Even humans, do you have problems smacking humans out?

Just kidding.

- Not too much.

Okay.

One thing that I've learned, and especially in the last few years is careful soil management, fertilizer management, will make plants more resistant to diseases and pests by having a strong plant whenever we grow, especially seems like melons.

We want to kind of think about how mother nature grows in a natural process.

How would your yard be fertilized?

- I do a lot of leaf prep in the fall.

Try to add the loamy soil.

- In a natural setting.

We would have the leaves fall off the trees and that would decompose to feed that microbiome that's in the soil.

So in a natural system, we have very little nitrogen, so the natural fertilizers especially stay away from a lot of nitrogen, never fertilize with straight nitrogen.

So at least have a balanced NPK.

If you're gonna go with ionic fertilizer, your next best would be natural.

If you can use, like you said, compost, animal manure, you have to be careful because you'll overdo it real fast, especially with potassium.

Fish fertilizer is real good.

Stay on the natural side, stay away from too much nitrogen.

- What about timing?

When's the best time for planting melons?

So if it's too cold, - Yeah, you don't want, don't want to get there too.

- No, you don't wanna be too early.

- There's no - You don't wanna race it.

There's no, there's no.

Watermelons have no tolerance for frost.

Very little.

So you want to wait till after frost.

- After frost.

Okay.

So tell me, tell me how you like to space your melon, but if it was like a home farmer, how far apart should they?

- Yeah, they, they need several cubic feet per plant.

And if you're in a home situation that's a little different, you can put 'em maybe against the fence and they're gonna grow out towards the middle.

Or they wouldn't have to necessarily be on a certain grid, but where they have space.

- Okay.

And talk to me about watering.

How do you like to water your melons?

- You want a good deep, deep water.

Deep, slow water.

Don't want to turn your sprinkler on for 20 minutes in water.

Okay.

That's not what you want.

If you can get the water deep into the soil, that's the best, especially when they're reaching maturity.

But you want your plant to root deep.

If you have a thorough water, but not like completely submerged, yeah, of course that will help offset some of the plant diseases.

- Okay, so soak it, but not all the time.

Do you let your melon like dry out in between?

- Yeah, dry out basically with the watermelons, we like to have a good, at least once in the season, a good deep soak.

So those roots are going, - Going real deep.

- They'll go real deep.

- How often are you watering?

- We're watering these about every other day.

- Oh wow, - Okay.

We do some deep watering and that's not near as often.

It really is.

There's a lot of gamble to it.

I mean just, just luck seems like even after all the years of - Roll those dice.

- Exactly.

Yeah.

All the years of experience.

And I think the other growers in the valley would say the same thing.

We keep learning, - Playing that game with Mother Nature.

She always comes out top.

So - Mother nature always keeps us on our toes and she always keeps us humble.

- Yeah, for sure.

So proof is in the pudding.

Cheers.

Oh -Oh my gosh.

Why does that taste so good in the heat?

I hope you enjoyed this episode with Dunham Farms.

We look forward to seeing you next time.