Initial Plant Research

1.What sort of plant is it? Vegetable, Fruit, Root crop, tree, bush etc.
I plan on growing a Sugar Baby Watermelon

2.What is the growing season for this plant…remember San Diego has a unique growing climate and some of the information on the internet might say that something won’t grow in the winter but that might not be true for here
The growing season for sugar baby watermelons is anytime when it is sunny. Watermelon need a lot of sun, so it is preferable to plant them when it is sunny. It is hard to determine exactly what season would be good to plant watermelon, as long as it isn't cold, it's a good time to plant watermelon.

3.Should it be grown from seed? If so how long does it take to germinate? Does it require any special preparation? (ex. some seeds need to be frozen before they will germinate?
If there is a long growing season, it is better to directly sow the seeds into the soil.

4.How long does this plant take to go from seed to harvest? Does it make sense for the time scale of this semester?…does it matter? Maybe you would still like to think about how it might benefit the garden in the long term.
Sugar Baby Watermelon generally takes 75-85 days to harvest. I believe that is enough time for it to grow this semester and it can continually be grown because of our beautiful San Diego weather.

5.Does the plant grow best from cuttings, division, grafts or clones? Where can we get these materials?
This plant needs a lot of space to grow.

6.How much space does it require to grow and harvest a reasonable amount?
There should be at least three feet of space between each plant. The hole for the plant should be two feet wide and a food deep.

7.What are the soil requirements for this plant?
Sugar Baby's grow best in sandy loam soil. I wasn't able to find the exact NPK ratio.

8.Water are the watering requirements?
Watering requirements are pretty normal/average for sugar babies. Not too much water but since they are 95% water, they do require regular watering.

9.Can you find any information about good companion plants that should grow along with it?
I would think that any other kinds of melons would grow well with sugar babies.

10. Something unique about my plant.
I think that the plant I'm going to choose is very unique because it is a hybrid and it's edible.