'Tis the season for Ontario watermelons. This farmer talks growing pains and sweet pickings

The first few Ontario watermelons have only just started to ripen and hit the stands, but Leamington farmer Dave Dyck said the season is already off to a good start. 

Dyck knows the crop well — he's been growing the fruit in southwestern Ontario for more than 20 years. 

"It is a decent crop this year I do believe. We just started getting into them, but I think there's quite a few of them in the patch, so quite pleased with them." 

Dyck, who is considered a small watermelon grower, planted a little over 1.5 hectares of watermelons and bush melons this year — totalling about 25,000 crops. He also grows other crops, including corn and tomatoes, and sells them from his roadside stand, Dave & Anna's Gourmet Sweet Corn and More. 

A combination of good weather and pollination seems to have helped the watermelon crop thrive this year, Dyck said. 

"We need heat, we need warm nights. As the watermelon sets, they like to see the temperatures staying up overnight. The humidity also helps," Dyck said, adding there shouldn't be too much humidity. 

According to the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers' Association (OFVGA), an estimated 809 hectares of watermelon plants are grown each year in southwestern Ontario. Many growers will then ship their produce across the province and the country, with some sending them into the United States. 

Since watermelon plants require heat to ripen and become sweet, the OFVGA said a large majority of Canadian watermelons are grown in southern Ontario because of the weather. 

Other provinces that grow the fruit include Quebec, British Columbia and Manitoba. 

"It's a bit of a niche market," said Mike Chromczak, a farmer and director at OFVGA. "Watermelons are very challenging to grow this side of the border. It's a desert plant used to growing in the southern states and from the Middle East originally.

"Really, it's easy to say, we have no business growing them here in Ontario." 

And yet, about a dozen or so farmers in the province make watermelon growing part of their business. 

Some challenges with growing the crop, according to Chromczak, include the high cost of production, from growing the seed to preparing the field. 

Since watermelons are also large and bulky, Chromczak said a lot of workers are often needed to harvest them.