A large, round shaped watermelon. Up to 75 pounds in weight. This variety is an old favorite from Florida state. Features a very bright red flesh with a good flavor. This is an excellent watermelon for the garden and produces well in all soils. Read more >>>

Matures about 90 days. 

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Kolb's Gem Watermelon, which is also known under the names of Cobb's Gem, State Fair and American Champion Watermelon, is a 19th century exhibition quality watermelon that produces huge watermelons weighing beyond 100 pounds in weight. This wonderful giant watermelon was originally developed by Reuben F. Kolb of Alabama in the 1880's. Kolb's Gem was first introduced to the public at large by D.M. Ferry and Co. in 1885 and was also recorded by the Nebraska Seed Company of Omaha, Nebraska in their annual catalogue in 1898. Its first documented appearance under the name of "Cobb's Gem" ocurred after the turn of the century when it was exhibited at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missourri in 1904. Following this, the variety came to be the watermelon of choice for exhibition growers and also picked up the names "State Fair Watermelon" and "American Champion Watermelon".

Reuben Francis Kolb (1839-1918), the creator of this watermelon variety was an important historical figure in Alabama State History who lived in Montogomery, Alabama where he was a planter by trade. His family came from Germanic stock and came to settle in South Carolina in the 1760's. His great grandfather, Colonel Abel Kolb was an American Revolutionary War Hero who was killed on the night of April 27-28th, 1781 at his farm on the Pee Dee River in South Carlina. A memorial devoted to Abel Kolb can still be found at the intersection of US 15-401 and Road 167 at Pee Dee River, South Carloina. Reuben F. Kolb served as a Sargent in Company B of the 1st Alabama Confederate Regiment. for 12 months during the American Civil War (1861-1865). In 1862, he was promoted to the rank of Captain and organized and commanded an artillery company now known to history as "Kolb's Battery". In the 1880's, after the creation of his Kolb's Gem Watermelon, R.F. Kolb had gained sufficient fortune and fame that he was elected to the office of Commisioner of Agriculture in Alabama from 1887 to 1891. Kolb soon emerged as a powerful spokesman for farmer's interests in his state and ran for the office of Governor of Alabama in 1890, 1892 and 1894, subsequently losing all three electorial bids. In 1911, he was again elected to his old post of Commisioner of Agriculture, which he occupied until 1915. Through his lifetime, Kolb's influence on his state's agriculture was so great that in 1941, a paper entitled "Reuben Francis Kolb: His Influence on Agriculture in Alabama." was published by Auburn University. 

More information about Kolb, his family and Kolb's Battery is available on varying other websites for the inquisitive. More biographical information is available on the Alabama Department of History Archives Site at this link. A guide to a collection of Kolb family scrapbooks documenting his life are available at this direct link from the Auburn Special Collections Library. More information is available about Kolb's Battery at these direct links at RootsWeb, Eclectic Projects.  More information about Kolb's political career are available on these links at Southern Opinion, Alabama Moments, Constitutional Reform and here.

Kolb's Gem is a very productive Watermelon cultivar that prior to the development of the variety Carolina Cross, was the predominant watermelon variety grown for exhibition purposes in the United States. Watermelons of this variety weighing over 130 pounds have been recorded and the variety consistantly produces watermelons weighing in at over 100 pounds each. The watermelons themselves are very attractive and feature a dark green rind with beautiful pale green stripes.
The watermelons are nearly round in their shape and feature a sweet red flesh. Matures in approximately 100 days. Read more >>>

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Mountain Hoosier is a very old heirloom watermelon that is said to date back to the era prior to the American Civil War. Though no records exist from that period that describe it under the name, we do know that Mountain Hoosier Watermelons were being offered commercially in seed catalogs about sixty years later during the 1930's. Whatever the case may be, we do know that Mountain Hoosier Watermelons have been in existance for at least 70 years and were once very popular with gardeners in the Mid-Eastern United States.

Mountain Hoosier is a very, very productive variety that produces very large watermelons. It is in fact, one of the most productive watermelons that we can recommend to our customers, with the added bonus that each watermelon will reach 75 to 80 pounds in weight when the weather conditions are favorable. This combination of great size and great production is very rarely, if ever, seen in other watermelon varieties, making Mountain Hoosier truly one of a kind! The large watermelons are of a slightly oblong shape and possess a dark green rind, making their appearance similar to Florida Giant. The flesh of the watermelons is of a brilliant red, with a very crisp, fine texture and a sweet, old fashioned taste. The seeds are large and are white in color with a black tip. Read more >>>

For production and reliability, we cannot reccommend a better watermelon that Mountain Hoosier.
 

Matures very early for a large variety, at 85 days, which places it among our earliest watermelons!

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The Yellow Belly Black Diamond Watermelon is a very unusual variety of watermelon. It is nore or less similar to other Black Diamond varieties in that it is a very uniform producer of 60 to 75 pound watermelons with a bluish-black oblong shaped rind. However, unlike other varieties, it develops a brilliant yellow colored "belly" on the portion of the rind that sits on the ground. This yellow belly is very distinct and is very attractive.

Yellow Belly Black Diamond is a watermelon of a supreme quality and features a bright red, very tasty flesh that is intermingled with large gray-black seeds. Read more >>>

Due to vigorous vines, it is tolerant to sunburn and is very hardy.

Matures in 90 days.

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