Description: An outstanding and super rare all-golden mini melon. Baker Creek had been searching for an all-yellow watermelon for many years. These incredibly small and early-producing melons are just what we’ve been pining after--a rich lemon-yellow color from skin to flesh! Like striking gold, this glorious gilded watermelon was the stuff of dreams and legend. The excitement was palpable as these Asian type, pocket-sized melons began to ripen on vine at the trials. We were thrilled with the vigorous growing habit and productivity; each vine blossomed and provided perfect single-serving fruit of 1-2 pounds, with unparalleled, candy sweet flavor and a crispy texture. The flesh of this thin-skinned little snacking melon is edible all the way down to the rind. It is a perfect home garden or local market melon, as the thin skin is not well suited to long-distance shipping. The vines produce tons of the melons. The vines throw a small percentage of green-skinned fruit.
Description: Incredible Flavor! We introduced this fine variety about 20 years ago after we were sent seed by Aziz Nael, an Iraqi gentleman who had collected this fantastic variety in Iraq. It is now nearly impossible to get seeds from this ancient country whose people have lost much of their genetic heritage in the long, bloody war. Now our corporate agriculture has been “kindly” suggested to native farmers who are losing thousands of years of plant breeding work. The 12-30 lb melons have hard light green rinds that make them perfect for shipping and storage. The light color makes them resistant to sun burning. Plants are large, vigorous and give heavy yields of oblong fruit, which do well in many conditions. The flavor is superb, being very sweet and luscious; and the texture is very crisp. This is a best seller and is a favorite of Dr. Amy Goldman and featured in her book Melons for the Passionate Grower. Ali Baba has received much acclaim online “as the best tasting watermelon,” and it will forever win a spot in any melon lover’s heart.
Watermelon Seeds, Art Combe's Ancient:
Description: This melon has a green rind and succulent red flesh that is of excellent flavor and sweetness. It is a beautiful melon and a favorite on our farm, easy to grow and producing fruit up to 20 lbs. One of the most fascinating seed discoveries in modern history! In the early 1920s, Art Combe, a Southwestern plant expert and amateur prospector, found a small woven pot filled with bright red watermelon seeds in an abandoned sandstone cave in Arizona’s Mogollon Rim. The red seeds are believed to be hundreds, if not thousands, of years old! Art planted the seeds and just a few germinated. The fruit was small and crooknecked, unlike any other watermelon he had ever seen before, but the flavor was incredible! Art grew this ancient Native American watermelon for several decades, selecting the largest and most round specimens. The result of decades of selecting is a superb extra large watermelon with bright red extra sweet flesh. (Some fruit may still have necks.) Art used a dry farming technique that allowed him to grow extra sweet watermelons with almost no irrigation in the searing hot desert; these watermelons are extremely heat and drought tolerant!
Watermelon Seeds, Black Jewel or Kurokodama:
Description: A sugary sweet, deep crimson watermelon from Kumamoto, Japan. The skin is thin and dark green, nearly black. The flesh is super firm, sparsely seeded and intensely sweet. Watermelon growing is serious business in Kumamoto; the fruit from this region is famously delicious and rigorously tested for high brix content and firm flesh! With its distinctive dark skin and sweet flesh, this Kurokodama cultivar is related to the famous Densuke Black Diamond watermelons grown only in small quantities on the island of Hokkaido, but it is much smaller and doesn’t typically command the same high prices at market.
Watermelon Seeds, Blacktail Mountain:
Description: One of the earliest watermelons we know; superb for the North, but it also grows well in heat and drought. The flesh is red and deliciously sweet. Fruit has a dark rind and weighs 8-12 lbs each. This excellent variety was developed by our friend Glenn Drowns, owner of the Sand Hill Preservation Center in Iowa. A favorite of many gardeners across the USA. One of the best we have ever tried!
Watermelon Seeds, Charleston Gray:
Description: One of the best All-American watermelons of all time! Super-sweet and full-flavored! This popular variety dates to 1954. The long gray-green fruit grows to 20-40 lbs; the red flesh is virtually fiber-free and very tasty. Yields are very good, and melons are excellent for home or market.
Watermelon Seeds, Clay County Yellow Meat:
Description: Extremely rare heirloom from Clay County, Alabama. Our original seed has been stored in a freezer since 1976. Yellow-fleshed watermelons reach 50 lbs, and are reputed to be the sweetest, best-tasting yellow-fleshed watermelons grown. Has been grown for at least 100 years. Produced well in spite of drought in our trials.
Watermelon Seeds, Crimson Sweet:
Description: AAS Winner from 1964, very popular. Crisp and sweet, medium-red flesh. A good producing type that is still quite popular.
Watermelon Seeds, Desert King:
Description: This watermelon produces 20-lb fruit that has a light pea-green rind that is resistant to sunburning. It is also one of the most drought-resistant varieties of watermelon known. It has sweet, yellow flesh and is very popular in the watermelon-growing areas of Arkansas. Good for storage.
Watermelon Seeds, Early Girl (Otome):
Description: One of the most delicious micro melons we have ever tasted! These super early-maturing mini melons from Japan are perfect for growing in the ground, or in pots and up a trellis! Originally selected for storing in tiny refrigerators and other small spaces, this pretty little melon averages 1-4 pound fruit and has an attractive light green skin and blushed salmon-rose-colored flesh. The plants are impressively productive, and the flesh is super sweet and delicious. It is an ideal choice for the gardener with limited space, for growing on balconies, or for those looking for a gourmet mini melon. In the late 1930s, Mr. Woo Jang-Choon, a Korean-Japanese agricultural scientist, combined the Yamato 3 and Kaho watermelons at the Agricultural Konosu Experimental Station in Japan’s Saitama Prefecture to create the Early Girl (Otome)
Description: A famous and wonderfully delicious, yellow-fleshed Polish variety. Oblong fruit to about 10 lbs. The extra sweet, yellow flesh is lovely in contrast with the dark green rinds. Crisp and delicious! Beautiful, uniform fruit and one of the best eating bright yellow types!
Description: An American classic that produces long, oval-shaped fruit with very sweet flesh that is deep red and very crisp. A popular old favorite. Large size. One of the all-time best tasting melons! This southern classic was developed in Leesburg, Florida in the early 1960s.
Description: Our favorite mini melon! This is one of the best finds from our trip to Japan. The Kaho watermelon has gorgeous salmon-orange flesh that is delicious right up to the super thin rind, making this one of the most unique watermelons we have trialled. It was also one of the best we’ve tasted. Elongated fruit weighs about 2-4 pounds and is perfect for 2 servings. This rare heirloom was originally brought to Japan from China around the year 1912.
Description: A classic icebox melon, sweet and juicy. We love this early-maturing, 10-15 lb. variety that is believed to have roots in Russia. With salmon-colored, crisp flesh and red seeds, this 10-inch diameter fruit is ideal for slicing at picnics.
Description: An extra jumbo watermelon that can be found individually wrapped in rope ‘baskets’ in Japanese markets and sold for up to 7000 yen each! This iconic variety makes a popular gift in Japan and can often be found at summer picnics. This variety was selected from a U.S. variety called Rattlesnake, which was brought to Japan during the Meiji Era and cultivated in the town of Nyuzen and along the Kurobe River since the 1930s. This variety is presented to the Imperial family every year, and the super sweet mammoth fruit is a popular and expensive gift, up to 70 US dollars each. A giant cartoon watermelon is also a popular Japanese mascot, a nod to this beloved Japanese variety.
Watermelon Seeds, Leelanau Sweetglo:
Description: Amazing deep, tangerine-orange fleshed fruit is sugar sweet! Perhaps the most perfectly flavored watermelon we have tried! In 2008, Mike Kiessel, watermelon expert of Leelanau County, Michigan, decided to cross the Orangeglo watermelon with a Crimson Sweet. After years of selecting and perfecting, the Leelanau Sweetglo has completely won our hearts and triumphed at our annual tasting trials! A new favorite orange-fleshed variety that matures early and is excellent for northern growing.
Watermelon Seeds, Moon and Stars:
Description: Legendary heirloom variety rediscovered in Macon, Missouri. Can grow to over 40 lbs. The dark green rind has bright yellow spots on it! Spots range in size from tiny to several inches across. Leaves are also specked in yellow. It has very sweet, brilliant red flesh. This is becoming one of the most popular heirloom varieties, a winner! Originally introduced by Peter Henderson & Co. in 1926, it was called “SUN, MOON AND STARS.” The catalog says, “...an extraordinary variation...and that it has such a delicious taste.” It was sold then for 20 cents a pack. Unique variety!
Description: Beautiful, deep orange flesh; very sweet, excellent, almost tropical flavor! The best-tasting of ALL orange varieties we tried—the favorite of many who tried it at our place. High yields. Very resistant to wilt and insects; strong healthy vines. These will sell at roadside stands & markets! Introduced by Willhite Seed Co. prior to 1965.
Watermelon Seeds, Royal Golden:
Description: A Family Favorite! The most beautiful watermelon we carry; the rind of this heirloom turns brilliant golden-yellow when ripe! The distinctive color makes it a snap to know when to harvest and is so beautiful in your garden. The tasty pinkish-red flesh is super sweet, crisp and refreshing. This variety is much larger than ‘Golden Midget’, with fruit weighing 8-25 lbs. We are so happy to offer seed for this great old melon that used to be offered by Willhite Seed of Poolville, Texas, from the 1930s until they discontinued it from their catalog in the 1970s and it almost disappeared. It was developed from the “Pumpkin Rind” variety, a now extinct, early American watermelon. The Royal Goldens still do remind us of big glowing pumpkins and their vines are even mostly yellow. One of the best-tasting watermelons ever!
Watermelon Seeds, Silver Yamato:
Description: Sugar Sweet & Snow White! Extreme quality texture and flavor have made Silver Yamato an instant favorite in our trials. This snowy, silver-fleshed heirloom hails from Nara Prefecture, Japan. The flavor defies easy description; test tasters have noted a hint of citrus, notes of sweet Asian pear and an overall creamy finish, making a flavor experience that should not be missed! This is an early-maturing melon, great for a range of growing climates. The 6-10 pound fruit is perfect for the home gardener or market gardener. Just remember that this delicate heirloom treasure cracks more easily than shipping types.
Watermelon Seeds, Stone Mountain:
Description: 90 days. A legendary commercial melon from the early 20th century with old fashioned sugary sweet watermelon flavor. Stone Mountain was introduced in 1923 by Hastings Seed Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and went on to become one of the top commercial melons of the 1930s and 1940s, but now is almost extinct due to mass production and hybrids. Nice-sized fruits weigh about 30 lbs, and have thick rinds that make them excel as shippers and storage melons. The red flesh is sweet, juicy and wonderful, bringing back memories of how watermelons used to taste. A classic Southern melon, seed provided by seed collector Rodger Winn.
Description: Flesh is a gorgeous strawberry red, ripening to within a half-inch of the rind, and usually has very few seeds. Fine grained, distinctively flavored and super sweet; it is classed among the best tasting by those who have tried it. The oblong, striped fruit reaches 15-25 pounds. With moderate disease resistance, this variety deserves to be the star of your summer garden. Originally selected from a Florida heirloom by Walt Childs and introduced in 1989 by our good friends at Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. Outstanding!
Watermelon Seeds, Sugar Baby:
Description: The most popular icebox-sized melon among gardeners! Early, 6 to 10-lb melons are great for the North and have sweet, deep red flesh. These also do well in the tropics.
Watermelon Seeds, Sugar Baby Bush:
Description: An ideal plant for gardeners with limited space, the vines of Sugar Baby Bush only reach around 3 feet in length. This is an early producer; the juicy and sweet little 6 to 12 pound fruit should be ready harvest in 75 days. Flesh is a deep scarlet; skin is a dark green with no striping.
Watermelon Seeds, Texas Golden:
Description: An antique heirloom with famously unparalleled flavor, this mammoth watermelon resembles a Charleston Grey on the outside, but with a luminous orange flesh that is dripping with honey sweet, citrusy flavor. This rare and old variety was offered by Willhite Seed company of Poolville, Texas. A good shipper and keeper, with super high-quality crispy and firm flesh.
Watermelon Seeds, Wilson's Sweet:
Description: Very unique spotted rind, with very crisp, sweet red flesh that bursts with rich, old-time watermelon flavor! One of the best melons I’ve tried in the last few years. Truly a winner! It used to be grown commercially, and was offered by several seed companies in the 1960s, but has since become nearly extinct. A great variety for home and market gardeners, as it produces 15-to 20 lb fruit that keeps well.
