How To Grow Watermelon

'Not your average watermelon'

Chauvin, 50, is quick to boast about the watermelon he grew in his backyard garden, which he says tipped the scales at 68 pounds and measures 43 inches in circumference.

Barton Joffrion, a horticulturist with the LSU AgCenter, said watermelons typically grow to between 20 and 30 pounds.

“That’s not unheard of,” he said. “But that is big. ... That’s not your average watermelon. It’s more on the large size, but it’s certainly not inconceivable.”

According to Guinness World Records, the world’s heaviest watermelon weighed 268.8 pounds and was grown in 2005 by Lloyd Bright of Arkadelphia, Ark.

Joffrion said it’s unusual that the melon didn’t “split” with the recent rain.

Typically, citrus and melons split after long periods of dry weather followed by rain, he said.

Joffrion said the size of melons depend on the variety grown. And fruits grown to larger-than-average sizes typically lose flavor, he added.

However, the Chauvins, who were still eating the watermelon Thursday, disagree.

Barry Chauvin’s wife, Betty, 47, said they cut open the melon and enjoyed it for the Fourth of July.

“It’s pretty darn good,” she said.

Betty, a native of Isle de Jean Charles, said the Bayou Blue couple, who have been married 25 years, grow watermelon, grapefruit, kiwi, pears, persimmons, figs, peaches and grapes, in addition to cucumbers and tomatoes on the acre of property.

Barry, a Bayou Blue native, said he never grew a watermelon as large before.

“It’s a challenge,” Barry Chauvin said about gardening. “It’s not something you can accomplish in a short while. You got to mess with a lot of stuff to see how it performs.”

Barry said he’s enjoyed gardening for most of his life, a hobby he picked up from his father, Ollen Chauvin. He said farming is something that dates back several generations in his family.

“He grew a lot of vegetables,” he said.

But what’s next for Chauvin?

Barry said he wants to try his hand at growing mirlitons, a pear-shaped vegetable dating back to the Aztecs and Mayas, and a specialty of Barry’s father.

“I mess around with a lot of stuff,” he said. “I can’t wait till next year to put a few seeds in the ground.”

Lifestyles Editor Shane Thibodaux can be reached at 857-2206 or shane.thibodaux@houmatoday.com .

Growing Watermelons - How grow watermelons successfully ...

WONDERFUL WATERMELONS

The puzzling thing is why anyone who lives in a warm climate is not growing watermelons in their garden or backyard.  This most refreshing fruit, (of no real nutritional value whatsoever) grows extremely quickly, producing ripe watermelons ready for eating in less than two months from sowing the seed.  They are easy to grow, need very little attention, (but quite a lot of space) and, on a hot summer’s day, are far, far better for you and far more refreshing  than fizzy, sugary drinks.

They only grow, however, in very warm areas and, unlike sweet melons, to which they are not related, will not do well under glass.  They need space and sunshine and not too much humidity in the air.  It is difficult to keep the roots well watered in a greenhouse and the temperature high without making the atmosphere too humid.

Watermelons are one of Africa’s gifts to the world.  There were originally two species, of which the bitter and inedible one, the colocynth, had certain uses in medicine.  It is the large green fruit, however, of which we have evidence, on wall paintings in tombs, that the Egyptians were growing watermelons more than 4000 years ago.  They were not apparently known in Europe until the Middle Ages and probably came in via Spain after the 10

They have never been as popular in Europe as they are in America, but the story of their introduction to the New World is, inevitably, tinged with tragedy.  Watermelons are so called because they are largely composed of water and so provided a useful means of keeping captives alive on the slave ship voyages from West Africa to America.  They reached Brazil in the early 17

The wild edible watermelons of Africa are often the size of a tennis ball, although, as we have seen, on the banks of the Nile, where there was no shortage of irrigation, much larger ones grew.  In America, however, with selective breeding, cultivation and watering, watermelons have reached enormous proportions – 25kgs is normal and some of the larger ones can weigh twice that!

Almost all parts of the watermelon can be used, from the refreshing frosty flesh to the inner part of the rind which is made into a preserve.  The seeds are dried and eaten in many parts of the world, like pumpkin seeds.  The seed is probably the only part that has any real food value.  Food is not what anyone indulges in growing watermelons for!  In the very dry desert areas of the Northern Sudan, watermelons, which grow easily and prolifically on the Nile banks, are fed to the desert-crossing camels, and presumably have been for many centuries; watermelons are for hot, dry, thirsty days and this is what you grow them for.