Plant · P-204

Watermelon

Citrullus lanatus

Watermelon is a heat-loving vine already grown as a commercial field crop across the region, not a speculative planting - a hot July helps it, and a cool, wet spring is the actual risk. Beyond the sweet flesh, the rind and leaves are edible cooked, and the seed is an underrated second crop, running about 30 percent protein and 20 to 40 percent oil, pressed for cooking, soap and lighting. The one hard requirement is soil body: it needs deep, well-drained, light-textured ground and does not tolerate heavy clay, so it wants the sandiest spot available or a built-up bed rather than a change in climate. Left to run rather than trellised, the sprawling vine also shades and cools the soil beneath it through the worst of summer.