The Pop-up Growth of Watermelon in My Husband’s Grape Garden: Surviving in Odd Territory

Good day everyone! Since it’s already summer in Philippines, fruits for hydration are everywhere.

A few months ago, we bought watermelon from the market and my husband carelessly threw its seeds into the concrete box where he grows his grapes. He did not expect that the watermelons will find their way to sprout and bloom, the tendrils stretching forward, spreading extensions. I thought at first it was the birds which brought the watermelon seeds into our garden. He did not tell me he’s the one behind this invasion (a little laugh). I was worried the watermelon will affect our grape vines but he told me to just let them grow and see what will happen.

At first, the watermelon bloomed flowers and later on, some little, shiny and hairy marble fruits showed up. One of its fruits grow fast day by day and I was excited to see it big and juicy. My husband watered them two or three days interval.

Can you spot how many of them are here?

But since we are beginners, we don’t know how to grow them well. Just like other plants which wither eventually, the watermelon faced pest problem. While I was pulling off weeds in the garden, I noticed white tiny lines in the watermelon leaves scraping the leaf surface - this and the annoying leaf miner. It really affected the watermelon growth.

That one fruit which I expect to go big in size first, has stopped growing and sadly, it cracked open prematurely. Others have irregular shape and some appeared burnt and had withered. I’m wondering what may be the cause of their drying up. Maybe the soil is not a good fit for them or maybe the insect and pest affected their growth or maybe too much heat from the sun dehydrated them. Or maybe.. the grapevines have deprived the watermelon the nutrients they needed, saying “this is our territory”. haha

In any case, despite its damaged fruits, some are still surviving the chaos. I still hope it will yield another group of tiny marble fruits and grow well, expecting for a slice of juicy watermelon from this odd territory to my table.

As to our grapes garden, I will be sharing this feature soon. Thank you for giving time reading my story. The photos are my owned captures from my phone camera and edited through Canva.

Have a bright day everyone!