I have a 2x4 plot for watermelons and let them sprawl too, about 5 feet in every direction. I usually plant 8 plants: 4 sugar baby (a nice small one for the family) and 4 larger ones for parties and what not. You have more dirt but not a lot more sprawl space, so I'm not sure how many more you can pack in. At a guess I'd say 12 max, but most square footers plant denser than I do, so someone might be getting more.

David

David,

Thanks for the response, how do you like the sugar baby melons? I've heard they are sometimes not very sweet, also do they sprawl much?

Howelbama - I wouldn't plant more than 4 melons in that box. Sugar baby are actually very sweet, and it's important to hold the water from them during the last 2 weeks before harvest. Of course there are 2 different kinds - regular and bush. The bush still vines, just not as aggressive.

Only 4? Seems like I have a good volume of soil there, I was hoping to try one per square...

Howelbama - yes, only 4. At least that would be my recommendation - which comes from years of experience, and growing melons on 60 total running feet of trellis. BTW, if you're ever near Russellville, feel free to drop by.

Eg,

I appreciate the follow up, and your blog is great btw! I think I will go for four and see what happens. I did them in containers last season and they were way too crowded, I did get a couple of edible crimson sweets, but they only got to about the size of a soccer ball, which is probably half what they should get to. I'm hoping for better success this year by growing them in a much larger soil mass.

I'd love to stop by and see you work sometime, however I don't live in AL, I'm actually in NJ. My user name comes from a nick name for our town, Howell, due to the fact that we have a lot of southern influence/flair in this area of the state as compared to the rest of NJ. :)

Thanks again for the feedback!

Mike

OK, no problem. Good luck with your planting...