How to Grow Watermelons in a Bucket

Living in a home where digging a large garden area isn't an option doesn't mean you can't grow watermelons. By growing watermelons in a bucket you can enjoy watching your plant grow and thrive right on your own deck or patio and experience cutting large, mature watermelons from the vine to serve to your family and friends. Through careful tending and watering, you can expect to harvest up to six melons in optimum conditions.

5-gallon bucket

Gravel

Potting soil

Watermelon seeds

Trellis

Fertilizer 10-0-0

Knife or pruners

Onion netting

Zip ties

Place your bucket in an area that receives at least six hours of direct sunlight every day. Fill the bottom of your bucket with 1 to 2 inches of gravel. Fill the remainder of the bucket with clean potting soil up to about an inch from the top edge of the bucket.

Push your finger down into the soil an inch deep in three places, spaced about 3 inches apart. Drop one watermelon seed into each hole. Push the soil over to cover the seeds without pressing the soil down on top of them.

Push a trellis down into the soil along one side, not the center, of the bucket without disturbing the seeds. The ideal trellis should be sturdy, as wide as the bucket, and run approximately 5 to 6 feet tall above the soil level.

Water the potting soil and seeds enough to make the soil moist throughout. Water as often as needed to keep the top inch of soil moist for the first month as the seeds germinate and begin to grow. Pull out the weakest of the three seedlings once they reach 4 to 6 inches tall.

Apply fertilizer to the soil around the base of your seedlings without allowing it to come into contact with the plants themselves. Repeat fertilizing monthly for steady growth.

Attach the main vines of the watermelon plants to the trellis using plant ties to make them grow vertically. Check the vines weekly for signs of fruit development. Cut off from each vine all but the healthiest two to three growing melons using a knife or pruners.

Secure a bag of onion netting to the trellis with zip ties around each forming fruit like a hammock once they reach 3 to 4 inches in diameter. As the watermelons grow the netting should hold the weight of the fruits, not the vine..

Water the plants more heavily only once a week to encourage continued growth. During the high heat of summer, water twice weekly if necessary. Less water will make the melons sweeter, however a plant trapped in dry soil will die.

Watermelons will often ripen within a two weeks of each other, so plan to use the first harvest-able melon right away as more will soon follow.

Watermelon varieties mature at different rates, so check your seed packet to see how soon you can expect to harvest melons after planting.