Gisborne basked in sunshine throughout spring and some of December, which meant LeaderBrand watermelons rolled into supermarkets earlier this year than usual.

The first watermelon patches were planted in early August.

LeaderBrand’s outdoor programme has several different varieties, which were ready to be hand-picked two weeks ahead of time — straight after New Year — a first for the company.

The company’s general manager of farming, Gordon McPhail, said watermelons thrived in hot and sunny weather and Gisborne has delivered that in abundance this season.

“We couldn’t have asked for more perfect weather in the early stages of our summer crops this year,” McPhail said. “Record temperatures, with long, dry, hot days, are ideal for producing large, great-quality watermelons.”

McPhail said they were delighted to have their watermelons in stores ahead of schedule.

“We pride ourselves on our watermelons grown here in Gisborne. It’s all about ensuring we’re selecting the right varieties for our conditions.

“We are constantly trialling different seeds for taste, size and what’s best suited for our environment.

“Preparation and planting in the right soils and location, harvesting by hand and selecting based on ideal maturity, treating the melons right post-harvest — it’s part of the reason melons are one of our more challenging crops, but that’s what makes them so much fun to grow,” he said.

“For us it’s all about taste because everyone loves a good watermelon. Once we harvest them, they are treated like red gold.

“Each one is gently hand-picked when ripe and then — by hand — brushed, washed, dried, graded and packed." Floating the melons in water for much of the process ensured they emerged undamaged, McPhail said.