Hi Jim
I'm not sure if sugarbaby is the 'smallest' watermelon because I'm a newbie and know nothing, but I did try to grow one last year.
It was my first attempt at gardening, and I started late (June 25). By Sept the watermelon was about 7 inches round. Not too shabby for a first timer. Started early enough with the right conditions (and the right gardener), it should reach it's full potential.
Go for it! Let the watermelon rinds fly!

Will you be trellising your vine or letting it sprawl?
h.

Thanks holly-2006

I guess I will be letting it sprawl...unless i can figure out how to trellis it by planting time!

Jim

I stole my trellis out of the Square Foot Gardening book, and then I stole the hammock idea for the melons from gonefishin'.
h.

Summertime, you might be on a wild-goose chase; smaller is not necessarily earlier.

I am also in a cold climate, one zone colder (Z-5) in north-east Wisconsin. There are quite a few "icebox" watermelons that will succeed for me, so you should have similar results.

Two varieties I highly recommend:

"Yellow Doll" (hybrid), yellow-fleshed, small seeds, very sweet, doesn't crack or get hollow-heart. The vines are very vigorous, and will usually produce 2-3 melons @ 7-10 pounds each. For taste, this is one of the best. Outstanding quality fresh, but only fair storage life.

"Blacktail Mountain" (open-pollinated) was developed in Idaho, to succeed in their short seasons & cool nights. It is the earliest watermelon that I have grown - earlier than Sugar Baby - but is still in the 7-10 pound range. The melons are nearly spherical, like green-black cannonballs. They are red-fleshed, with a very high sugar content & outstanding storage capability. The vines do not yield as heavily as some, usually only one per plant on fairly short vines.

A shovel of composted manure beneath each plant will increase yield. If you have trouble getting melons to ripen when direct-seeded (as I do) start them indoors in peat pots about 3 weeks before you intend to plant them, and give them plenty of sun - they do not respond well to artificial light. Put them outside as soon as possible after germination, to minimize transplanting shock. For me, this gives them enough of a head start to ripen in all but the worst years.

Jade Cross is an early watermelon...14 pounds. Sweet Beauty is the earliest I ever raised...June 21 harvest once....8 pounds.

Course I like the full size best.

I'm looking in the Vesey's catalog where they list a variety called New Queen. Orange flesh, 63 DTM.
Anyone have experience with this one?

The other melons sound interesting, but can only find Yellow Doll.

Seeds of Change has a few early, but not necessarily small watermelons:

Here is a link that might be useful: seeds of change

Fedco has an early yellow called Peace.

I did try New Queen once, but would prefer Yellow Doll over it .

You got me curious!

Here is a link that might be useful: Johnny's

I just noticed the "Johnny's website hacked" thread, so don't order anything online. Sorry!

I tried the "New Queen". It was smaller than "Yellow Doll" and had problems with cracking, so I would not recommend it.

Check out the link below. There you will find many different varietes of melons, with descriptions and links where to buy the seeds. If I didn't already have too many seeds, I would buy more. Maybe next year. lol

Here is a link that might be useful: Melon Varieties

I also recommend the Blacktail Mountain. Fabulous.

There is a variety called "Little Baby Flower" you might check out.

Why a small melon, Jim? Small garden?
FWIW, I'm going to follow the recommendations here and give Yellow Doll a go.
h.

Thanks everyone you are giving me some ideas!

Holly I have 2 gardens but the one I would use for the watermelons is about 10x50 foot.

I wanted the smallest possible because I tried growing pumpkins before and watermelons and had trouble growing them.

So I figured if I grow the smallest ones I can that should give me the best shot at actually getting a nice ripe one.

I figure it's better to have a very small ripe watermelon than to try for a big one and not even get the thing to be mature!

Jim

Zeedman is right, smaller doesn't necessarily mean earlier.
I was contemplating starting earlier indoors, but heard that melons don't really do too well under artificial light, and disturbing the root system would be a no-no. Maybe starting a week or 2 before setting out and cutting open the peat pot would work?
With the early varieties mentioned above I'm now wondering if this would really be necessary.

If room wasn't so limited, I'd try starting one indoors and one direct sown and compare the two.

Gee Jim, 10x50 feet huh? I'd kill for that. We could stand at opposite ends of my garden, and you could still smack me!
Let us know what variety you choose.
h.

There is an increasing market for smaller icebox watermelons so I try to plant a few varieties each year. If you want to spend the extra money for triploid seedless varieties there are many to choose from. With seeded types the previous suggestions are good and I suggest a few others that you might try.

Mickeylee is a red flesh melon similar in size to Yellow doll. Another melon that I thought was great (it was an AAS winner) is Gold Crown hybrid. It is an orange skinned, early ripening red fleshed melon. You can crack this palm sized melon like an egg, which is also its main fault.

If your goal is to harvest earlier try planting onto black plastic mulch. You'll gain 3-4 weeks in the time of harvest. I would not grow melons without it.

Forget smaller varieties. You'll get better taste from larger varieties, like Black Diamond, OrangeGlo, Moon and Stars.

Small watermelons have generally been a disappointment for me.

Wayne

I too agree that larger melons tend to have more delicious texture, flavor, and taste. True,.....large small ones can be ok. I had a 15½ Tiger Baby that was great with few seeds

I have raised maybe 40 different varieties...probably more. I remember a nice Kleckley Sweet in '53. So I have been trying and eating watermelons a long time for what that is worth. When someone says,"That is the best tasting melon I have ever tasted," I consider the source and experience.

Anyway, we are not likely to all agree on the best watermelons whether large or small. I think it would be even harder to agree on the best sweet corns!! I have raised Yellow Doll since 2001 and have had some really nice specimens that were juicy to the rind and that were rind scraping good. Still it is not my favorite. Last year we tested a large delicious red for brix. It was 13.2%. A lesser tasting one was 11.2% for comparison.

I tried Blacktail Mt. in 2003. Both plants died just before ripening so I did not get to taste them. Other watermelons that year did not die, so I decided that they were more disease prone in my older melon soil.

Anyway, I love raising and eating really good melons and talking about them

I'm trying Sugarbaby this year. Seeds are easy to get locally, and i just have to try again after my blackdiamond failure last year. (i planted too later). I might trellis it.

I just got a couple 10 cent packets of Sugar Baby at Walmart. I'm already growing Bush Sugar Baby plus a few others... the vines only get 3-5 feet at most on Bush Sugar Baby. Mine can't be over 30" right now.

I think Blacktail Mountain is great for northern growers. I grew it a couple years ago, it got hidden by an Atlantic Giant pumpkin plant that went rampant... when I was pruning the pumpkin plant, I found 2 "green bowling balls!" Gave half of one to my neighbor & he said it was the best watermelon he ever tasted.

Do you want the smallest or the earliest? The smallest OP I have encountered is the New Hampshire Midget. It is also the earliest. I don't care much for personal sized melons, but there are quite a few hybrids, mostly triploids coming on the market. O f the "icebox" size, Yellow Doll is a n excellent melon, There is also a Red Doll, for those who don't like yellow fleshed melons. If space is the problem try one of the "bush" melons. They are not really bush but have short vines.