Cooperative Living October 2017 - 30

GardenMuse | By Paula Steers Brown, Contributing Columnist
Fall's Fruit Show-offs
W
hat is a gourd? Is it a fruit? Yes,
according to botanists, a gourd is
" a hard-shelled durable fruit grown
for ornament, utensils and general interest. "
Durable is certainly true - gourds can
last thousands of years. They have been
found in Egyptian pyramids.
Ornamental is a given. We mainly see
them yearly in fall markets, where we are
drawn to their bright colors and fanciful
shapes. The fruits are irresistible, even if
most are not edible, mounded into autumnal
arrangements inside and outside.
Traditionally dried and used as practical
utensils such as baskets, bottles, dippers
and troughs, they can provide myriad
project fun for modern craftspeople.
Gourds, in their almost infinite variety,
surely spark interest. They seem, to use
Granddaddy Brown's wonderful Piedmont
expression, " a plumb cu-rosity. "
Two of the most prevalent types are
Cucurbita pepo, commonly called
ornamental gourds for their dramatic
colors, forms and textures; and Lagenaria,
the hard-shell gourds that can be crafted
into utilitarian and lasting objects.
Ornamental gourds sport colors of vivid
green, orange and yellow. They can be striped
or solid, mottled and can bisect the gourd.
The Crown of Thorns or Finger variety has
10 knobby points or " fingers. " The surface
texture can be smooth, grooved or warty.
The variety L.ovifera will dry under the
right conditions, though the shell is thin
and the bright colors fade.
The hard-shell gourd dries thick and
hard into four basic shapes: basket, dipper,
snake and bottle types. The common
names of the various shapes describe form
and function in charming terms. Cannon
Ball is completely round as is its larger
version, Bushel Basket. Kettle implies its
even-larger girth. Canteen is rounded but
flattened, and Tobacco Box, also flattened,
was used for storage, as the name implies.
Dipper types have a long, thin neck
with a bulb at the end that was cut to
make water dippers. Extra-long-handled
varieties can measure over 6 feet in length
and are real state-fair contenders. The
28 | Cooperative Living | October 2017
bulb is more elongated in the heavierlooking
Caveman's Club. The Maranka
has a dark-green surface of irregular
ridges covering the bulb that makes it
look scaly and prehistoric, thus the
common name " Dinosaur. "
Trough or snake gourds are long and
narrow with no distinct bulb. The Banana
variety is a small type traditionally made
into fishing lures. The Mexican Bottle
gourd is larger than the Sennari (used for
traditional Japanese sake bottles). The
Penguin form has a tapering and curved
neck like its distinctive namesake. The
curving Calabash is the bottle gourd best
known as Sherlock Holmes' calabash pipe.
The Martinhouse has a bulb just right
for purple martins and other cavity-nesting
birds. Martins are very effective bug
controllers; they eat mosquitos and chase
crows away while nesting (which happens
to be corn-planting time), so they provide
benefits to farmers.
My grandchildren pick up my dried
gourds, hold the handles, shake them and
delight in hearing the dried seeds rattle.
This is probably the process that led
ancient people to make them into all sorts
of musical instruments. The gourd shape
provides natural resonance so they made
good drums and were formed into other
instruments where sound needed
amplification. Stringed, they produced
music and became the forerunners of the
banjo and guitar or, in India, the sitar.
Gourds have also found their way into
ritual as objects of clothing, sometimes
embellished with shells. Medicine men found
sacred uses for the gourd as parts of
ceremonial costumes, fertility symbols and
reliquaries, perhaps reasons they figure
prominently in folk tales around the world.
Gourds are highly adaptable to a wide
variety of growing conditions, so modern
gardeners can grow these fascinating plants
as long as they have enough sun (six hours
daily that can be filtered if the area has
intense summer sun), space to grow (about
4 feet between plants) and ample water.
The lengthy vines can snake along the
periphery of the garden plot so that their
spread does not smother neighboring plants,
but they are great candidates for vertical
gardening if space is limited. Let them climb
ce, a trellis or an old swing set. Plant
rbor of gourds and enjoy them growing
inside a tunnel of green. Enrich the soil
till at least 4 feet from the wall or fence
fertilize to ensure vigorous vines.
ightly acidic (6-6.5) soil is ideal.
ture evaporates from the plant's big-leaf
surface and leaves can droop during intense
heat, but usually recover when the sun goes
down if you water once or twice per week.
In the early fall, start decreasing water and
then stop altogether to begin the hardeningoff
process to yield a crop that will dry
thoroughly and not rot.
Gourds have a long growing season -
100 days for ornamental types and 120140
days for hard-shells. If you have a short
growing season (or if, like me, your
schedule at the end of spring is particularly
hectic), start seeds indoors four weeks prior
to the date of the last frost. Soak seeds for
24 hours to speed germination and plant
into peat pots. Plant sprouts in the ground
when they reach the four " true-leaf " stage.
When the leader vine grows to 10 feet,
cut the tip to force growth into the lateral
branches. Around eight weeks, male
blossoms appear first, followed by the female
blooms. Try your hand at pollinating the
female blossom stigma by dusting with the
pollen of the older, male bloom for prolific
production. It is easier than you think to
get caught up in the fertility mystique and
regard for this curious crop.
Gourds were so important to early
civilizations and associated with fertility that
the people selected to plant them were
usually those in the culture who wielded the
most power. In Hawaii, for example, gourds
were planted and tended only by potbellied
men who stuffed themselves with a big meal
before planting, then, as they dropped seeds
in the ground, chanted requests for a
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Cooperative Living October 2017

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