Gorgeous gourds for
the holidays
November 11, 2004
Several weeks ago, there was an article in this newspaper about pumpkins and
how to grow them in this area. It was a great piece, inspiring me to actually
consider trying my hand at creating my own pumpkin patch. It also brought to
mind the decorating theme that prevails during this time of the year inside and
out. Pumpkins! Pumpkins! Pumpkins - and a few gourds!
When I taught kindergarten, I am sure the children must have thought that in
the fall the world turned into a pumpkin, as October and November seem to be
inundated by them. Those gorgeous orange orbs are on flash cards, homework and
notes going home, as well as in classrooms, hallways and displays all around
... and every child knows that the "most important" use for a pumpkin
is for it to be carved into a happy, funny or scary jack-o-lantern.
But there are other vegetables with which to decorate besides pumpkins.
Consider the lowly gourd, forgotten by many, including myself, until I agreed
to this great writing assignment as a neophyte Master Gardener. Gourds are
really neat things. They can be used for so many purposes, such as birdhouses,
utensils, storage containers and ornaments. They have even been made into a
patchwork quilt. I discovered this fact while surfing the Net in search of
needed information for this article - and had the opportunity to actually view
it during a recent visit to
This gourd patchwork quilt was on
display recently at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. It is made from
stitched-together 4x4 gourd tiles designed by more than 100 gourd artists from
the
The Gourd Society of Illinois was holding its convention there and had it on
display at the Chicago Botanic Gardens, an amazing 350-acre place to tour. I
found out that there are gourd societies all over the
I suppose that I need to back up a bit and give you some basic information
about gourds. They come from the cucurbitaceae
family, which includes cucumbers, watermelons, pumpkins and squash. There are
three major classes: the cucurbita, or ornamental
type; the lagenaria, or hard-shell gourd encompassing
the large, utilitarian gourds; and the luffa, or
vegetable sponge.
Gourds are classified as a warm-season crop with a growing season from 100
to 180 days. Although we enjoy them now, this means the best time to plant them
is spring through mid-summer. Since they demand such a long growing time, they
are the perfect item to keep winter gardeners busy inside before they can again
go outside to play in the dirt. Prepare the seed by soaking in water several
hours - and no longer than overnight. Seeds may be clipped on the edges next to
the point. These two steps will speed up the germination time. Gourd seeds
should be planted in individual containers, such as peat pots, approximately
four weeks before planting outdoors, since the roots will not tolerate
disturbance during transplanting. Select a sunny, well-drained site.
Prepare the soil by adding organic matter, such as compost, composted manure
or peat moss. Plant seeds or transplants singly 2 feet apart
in the row, with rows 5 feet apart; or in hills (thinned to two plants), 4 to 5
feet apart with rows 7 feet apart. Gourds are vigorous growers and will
readily adapt to a trellis, fence or arbor for support.
The cucurbita plants produce large orange or
yellow blossoms that bloom in the daytime. The lagenaria
group produces white blossoms that bloom at night. Luffas
produce prolific vines with yellow blossoms and require the longest growing
season of the gourds. Many gardeners become concerned when gourd plants
blossom, but do not set fruit. This happens because gourds produce separate
male and female flowers. Male flowers serve as the pollinator and female
flowers bear fruit. Several male flowers are produced before any female
flowers, and it is the male flowers that drop without setting fruit. In time,
both male and female flowers are produced and the first fruit is set.
Water all gourds regularly during the early growing season. When the gourds
are mature, usually in September or October, stop watering altogether. To
discontinue the heavy watering in August is a trigger for the gourds to start
the drying and hardening off process. Gourds are ready for harvest when the
stems dry and turn brown. Just be mindful that if you take a gourd before it is
ready, it will shrivel and rot. So remember: you can never leave a gourd on the
vine too long, but you can cut it too soon. However, it is best to harvest
before frost.
Gourds come in many shapes and sizes, and when it comes to crafting with
gourds, what to do with the shape and size is only limited by the user's
imagination. The artwork that I have seen on some gourds is amazing. When crafting
with gourds, they are treated very much like wood, in that they can be cut,
painted, stained, chiseled, wood-burned, glued and made into many objects.
Gourds bring nature into holiday decorations, and our eyes are delighted with
the humor or depth of the artist, as can be seen in the pictures accompanying
this article. Similarly, the identification chart gives a good sampling of the
varieties available. Some of the names indicate how those particular gourds can
be used.
1. Banana 2. Club, cave-man's
club 3. Tobacco box, sugar bowl 4. Canteen, sugar bowl
5. Cannon ball 6. Basketball 7. Mini-bottle 8.
Sennari 9.
Mexican bottle 10. Hardshell
wartie 11.
Hercules Club 12. Bushel basket 13. Baton, snake, longissima 14. Short handle dipper
15. Powder horn, penguin 16.
French dolphin, maranka, monkey
17. Lump-in-neck bottle 18. Zucca 19. Chinese
bottle, dumb-bell 20. Long handle dipper 21. Indonesian bottle, Costa Rican bottle 22. Japanese bottle siphon
23. Kettle
Also illustrated is how purple martin lovers have made use of gourds for
birdhouses and how creative they gave gotten in doing so.
There is a lot more to know about these amazing plants, and it all can be found at http://texasgourdsociety.org/ or at the Texas A&M Web site, to name a few. Hope you enjoy the exploration as much as I did. Be sure to read next week's article about more fall holiday customs and decorating ideas. The season is almost upon us.