Moon and Stars Watermelon

Citrullus lanatus

Also known as: Sun, Moon and Stars


A striking American heirloom watermelon carrying its own celestial map — dark green rind scattered with bright yellow spots the size of stars and one or more larger yellow patches for the moon. Even the leaves carry the yellow speckling, so the pattern reads across the whole vine. Fruit runs large, 4–13kg on average, with sweet, deep red flesh and a fine texture that eats like a proper old-fashioned watermelon. A vigorous, sprawling plant that needs the full warm season to ripen properly, and one of the great success stories of the seed-saver movement — believed extinct in the 1980s until a single Missouri gardener was found still growing it. Sprawling vine — needs serious room to run.

Days to harvest 95–105 days from transplant
Fruit size Large round-oval fruit, 4–13kg (occasionally larger)
Sowing depth 2cm
Germination 6–10 days at soil temperature 21–30°C
Spacing 1–1.5m between plants, rows 2–3m apart
Aspect Full sun; deep, well-drained sandy loam rich in organic matter
Frost tolerance Sensitive to frost at both ends of the season — sow after last frost, harvest before first frost

Growing notes

A warm, sunny position with sandy, free-draining soil suits it best. Watermelons want heat, room, and steady moisture through fruit set.

Soil preparation: Deeply worked beds with generous well-rotted compost and aged manure. Watermelons are heavy feeders — build the bed before sowing and top-dress as the vine takes off.

Sowing method: Sow 2–3 seeds per station 1–1.5m apart, either direct into warm soil or into large pots for transplant, then thin to the strongest seedling per station.

Support: Usually left to trail along the ground. Small-fruited watermelons can be trellised with fruit slings, but the heavy fruit of Moon and Stars is best left to rest on the ground on a bed of straw to keep the underside clean and dry.

Watering & feeding: Deep, consistent watering at the base through vine growth and fruit set. Overhead watering invites mildew. Ease off water as fruit approaches ripeness — a drier finish concentrates the sugars. Side-dress with well-rotted manure or a balanced liquid feed once flowering starts.

Harvest: Watermelons don't ripen further once picked, so read the plant. Three signs together mean it's ready: the tendril nearest the fruit has dried and browned, the underside where the fruit sits on the ground has turned from white to a warm cream-yellow, and the skin has lost its glossy sheen and taken on a matt finish. A dull thump on tapping is the traditional confirmation.

Timing: First ripe fruit around 95–105 days from transplant.

Key features

  • Unmistakable dark rind with yellow stars and moon markings
  • Yellow-speckled foliage carries the pattern across the whole plant
  • Large fruit 4–13kg with sweet red flesh
  • Old-fashioned watermelon flavour and texture
  • Rescued heirloom with a well-documented recovery story
  • Vigorous, healthy vine

Short season tips


Sow indoors in seedling pots 3–4 weeks before your last frost and transplant carefully — watermelons resent root disturbance, so use larger pots and minimise handling. In Coonabarabran and similar inland zones, plant out from mid-November once soil is reliably warm. Black weed mat under the vine warms the soil and buys extra ripening days at the tail end of the season. Moon and Stars needs its full run of warm weather — get it in early and give it the sunniest, most sheltered spot in the garden.

  • Spring
  • Summer

Annual

  • Corn, bush beans, radish, nasturtium, marigold, oregano
  • Potatoes, other watermelon varieties within cross-pollination distance if saving seed


Introduced to the American seed trade by Peter Henderson & Co in 1926, this variety fell out of commercial production over the following decades and was widely believed extinct by the early 1980s. Kent Whealy of the Seed Savers Exchange tracked it down in 1981, still growing in the garden of Merle Van Doren in rural Missouri, and reintroduced it through the exchange — making it one of the earliest and best-known heirloom rescues of the modern seed-saving movement. It has stayed in wide cultivation ever since, kept alive by home gardeners who appreciate both its story and the way it looks on the vine.