Video Transcript

Hello, this is Mindy McIntosh-Shetter from Mindar the Gardening Gnome and Dirt to Dining University, and today I'm going to show you how to water watermelon, cantaloupes and melons. Now the first thing that you're going to need to do is you're going to need to check and make sure that your plants need to be watered and the easiest way of doing that is to stick your pointer finger down into the soil until it reaches your knuckle, pull it straight out. If there's no soil on your finger, then the plant material needs to be watered. If you have soil in your finger, then the plant material doesn't need to be watered. Also keep in mind watermelon need at least an inch of water a week so make sure that you monitor your local weather and gauge your watering schedule according to the amount of water that you get. Now to water a watermelon plant, you have two choices. You can either set up an irrigation system before you planted the plant material but most people don't have that type of system so they have to water by hand. You will need a watering hose and you will need an adjustable nozzle. Now this one has several different choices and I like to pick one that says shower or mist because you want it gentle. You don't want to beat the plant. Also the time of day that you water the plant material is very important. Watermelon don't like to have their leaves wet and it actually can cause disease problems if the leaves get wet. So make sure that you water your plants in the morning, that way it gives all day for that water to evaporate before evening. So I've adjusted my nozzle here and I'm simply going to water the ground. I had checked prior to watering to make sure that the plant material needed to be watered. Now how do I know that I've watered enough? You'll need to water at least 30 minutes or set up a rain gauge in your garden and mark it an inch, that way you will know how much water that your plant materials has actually received. So give these techniques a try. So until we meet in the garden again, this is Mindy McIntosh-Shetter from Mindar the Gardening Gnome and Dirt to Dining University.