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Top Tips on How to Identify a Ripe Watermelon

It is sometimes not an easy task to figure out if you have a ripe watermelon or not. This is especially true if you have dozens of watermelon plants in your garden. The most accurate way is one that is usually only used by commercial producers, and that involves using a hand refractometer to measure the sweetness of the watermelon. The middle of a ripe watermelon should have a sugar level of around ten percent.

Most home gardeners do not go to the expense of buying a hand refractometer. Most actually just try tapping the watermelon to see what kind of sound it makes. A dull, hollow sound means that it is a ripe watermelon and ready to harvest. Because a watermelon will not continue to ripen after being harvested, it is essential to perfect whatever technique you intend to use as a test for ripeness.

Sometimes it is not one thing but many things combined that will lead you to believe that you have a ripe watermelon. For instance, you can determine if your watermelon has stopped growing or if it is at the expected size for whatever variety you planted. The surface of a ripe watermelon will take on a dullness while a shiny watermelon is definitely not ripe. Next, checkout the color of the bottom of the watermelon. If the color is yellow or even a creamy yellow, the watermelon is ripe. If the bottom is white or pale green, it is not ripe. Watermelon when consumed has several health benefits which is to be noted to remain healthy.

The best way to recognize a ripe watermelon is to walk the patch daily when harvest time nears. That way you can observe what might sometimes be subtle changes toward ripeness. If the tendril near the stem of  the watermelon is dry and turning brown, you have a ripe watermelon. As long as this tendril stays any shade of green, the watermelon is not ready to pick.

Another indication of ripeness is the smell of a watermelon. This method of determining whether a watermelon is ripe or not is going to take some practice. One way is to look at two melons of equal size. The riper a melon gets, the heavier it gets, so smelling the heavier one will give you some indication of what a ripe watermelon smells like. If you have picked a watermelon and found it to be just right, try and remember its particular smell. After you have been harvesting watermelons for several years, you will recognize the smell of a ripe watermelon almost immediately.

If all else fails, just cut open a few watermelons to see if they are really ripe or not. This is not the best thing to do unless you have a large quantity of watermelons, but it will educate you as to the size, firmness, and smell of the ripe ones. Trying all of these methods will pay off when you can immediately spot a ripe watermelon. That means that you can have it picked and inside in no time to start enjoying its sweet, refreshing taste.

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Tips for Growing Watermelon

Growing watermelon can be a challenging endeavor. It’s not that there is anything out of the ordinary about planting watermelon, but it takes approximately ninety days to get to harvest time. Because of the length of time needed to grow a watermelon, there is ample opportunity for diseases and pests to find their way into the watermelon patch. It also means that watermelon can be exposed to many different weather conditions. Watermelon is beneficial to keep body healhty, there are several health benefits taken into consideration.

All About the Square Watermelon

Everyone loves to eat watermelon in the summer, but its round, oblong shape makes it hard to carry, hard to slice, and hard to store but now there’s a solution the square watermelon. Developed by a farmer in Japan almost twenty years ago, the square watermelon can now be purchased throughout Japan.

Still, most of the people in the world have never seen or eaten a square watermelon. In Japan, they are only purchased by the wealthy. 

How to Choose Watermelon Varieties

While most of us can remember enjoying watermelons in the summertime as far back as childhood, it may be surprising to find out that today there are around two hundred different watermelon varieties grown. The traditional oblong green watermelon with pink flesh and black seeds is no longer the only choice. Today there are seedless varieties as well as the traditional watermelons with seeds.

Some of the Benefits Of Watermelon

Nearly every article you're apt to come across extolling the healthy benefits of watermelon is going to start out by visualizing the enjoyment of eating a watermelon on a hot summer's day. It's hard not to do this. The watermelon is a staple of the family summer time picnic. Few things taste better than a cool slice of watermelon, and one of the joys of the summer picnic would be a good old-fashioned seed spitting contest. We also remember the feel of watermelon juice on the sides of our face as we got deeper into the slice.

The Truth about the Watermelon Diet

The watermelon diet is one of many which are considered fad diets. They become extremely popular for a time because people maintain that they lost weight, and everyone wants to lose weight. But, let’s face it, none of us want to eat only watermelon for the rest of our lives and if you stick to this diet for a long period of time, you will lose your health rather than gain it.

Watermelon Nutrition and Its Benefits

While dieticians have long known the value of watermelon nutrition, the public is just now finding out how healthy a watermelon really is. For instance, a cup of watermelon has vitamin A for healthy eyes, vitamin C to help strengthen your immune system, vitamin B6 which helps the brain to make chemicals for psychological health, and potassium, which every cell in the body needs for water balance.

Is Watermelon Good For You?

Why is watermelon good for you? What are the health benefits in adding watermelon in your regular diet? What are the essential vitamins and minerals you can find in this fruit? These are the questions we aim to answer in this short article. But before answering, let us have an overview of existing trends that provide the background to questions like these.

Watermelon Nutrition

Are you interested in watermelon nutrition facts? There is a lot of hearsay that surrounds watermelon, such as “watermelon can help you lose weight” or “watermelon can help prevent cancer.” The truth is that watermelon nutrition does have the possibility to stave off certain illnesses although the research conducted on that front is not solid. It definitely does make a good food choice for a hot summer’s day.