Watermelon (Pakwan) Planted for 2013 Season

Today I just wanted to discuss about what watermelon varieties my people planted in the farm. There are so many watermelon (pakwan) varieties that are available in the market. And to be sure for a profitable venture, you need to know what wholesale buyers prefer. Last year we had 3 varieties planted; Kaneko, Sugar Ball and Diana. Kaneko is an old time favorite variety because of its sweetness and red flesh with green skin. Diana variety is a yellow skinned watermelon with red flesh and is a high priced variety in the market. While Sugar Ball is a new variety with green skin and stripes.

This year, my people will be planting 3 variety once again; Kaneko, Diana and Gold Lady according to them.

 

Diana Watermelon (www.seedquest.com)

The third variety, Gold Lady, will be planted only for the first time that's why I still have no idea about it. I will just post a photo of its fruit after some time.

What variety of watermelon do you prefer? Have you ever tasted other variety of watermelon? Please share your comments and who knows maybe we could try to plant that particular variety next season!

Watermelon (Pakwan) Planting Time

So here is my update about our watermelons.My people started transplanting watermelon seedlings already after cleaning the needed area. The lower parts of the rice which were left after harvesting rice were removed for digging soils. They had two rows of seedlings planted with a canal in the middle which will serve as a waterway in case there will be a strong rain fall which will flood the field.










It is a must to have this waterway this early even there is still no strong rain or storm in sight in order to avoid any problem in the future. There have been instances before that some planters forgot to prepare waterway in their watermelon farm which caused some of their seedlings to rot after being under water for some time.

Another picture to show how my people planted watermelon. Notice the waterway that they have dug in between 2 rows.

Watermelon Season Once Again

Pakwanan na! It is watermelon season once again! So many people in our place are scrambling to be the first one to plant watermelon. But first, they need to harvest rice from their fields before they can start with their watermelon. Unahan na sa pagtatanim ng pakwan sa Barangay Baley-a-daan! Pakwan or Watermelon in english is the main product after harvesting rice in our place.

Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.), family Cucurbitaceae) is a vine-like (scrambler and trailer) flowering plant originally from southern Africa. Its fruit, which is also called watermelon, is a special kind referred to by botanists as a pepo, a berry which has a thick rind (exocarp) and fleshy center (mesocarp and endocarp). Pepos are derived from an inferior ovary, and are characteristic of the Cucurbitaceae. The watermelon fruit, loosely considered a type of melon – although not in the genus Cucumis – has a smooth exterior rind (usually green with dark green stripes or yellow spots) and a juicy, sweet interior flesh (usually deep red to pink, but sometimes orange, yellow, or white). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watermelon)

It is the start of planting season for watermelon these days in our place and even some of the people there already started planting last month, September, just to be the first to harvest in in late November or early December. By being the first to harvest, they can demand for a higher price to buyers and have a higher income.

How I wish we could also do that but the problem is we still have to wait for my father to finish harvesting rice before my people can start preparing the land for planting watermelon. And this week they just finished harvesting so yesterday we already started clearing the land.

During these days in our area, you could not see any bystander spending their time doing nothing as everyone are very busy doing their chores in planting watermelon. This is because they already know the money that they could earn once they had a good watermelon harvest.  

I will be sharing in this blog about the progress of our watermelon!