Gourds: A harvest of whimsy

Warty, smooth, twisted or not - gourds have it all. — Tom Gills/Creative Commons

Ornamental gourds are the odd-fellows of the vegetable patch, grown not for the table, but for their strange and wonderful appearance.

Their skins, warty or smooth, pleated or puckered, invite touch — it’s hard to keep your hands off them. They wear gaudy clown stripes, vibrant oranges, beautifully mottled shades of green or two-toned outfits in look-at-me colors. As an expression of natural form, they bear witness to Mother Nature’s whimsy, resembling geese or swans, acorns or miniature watermelons, dinosaurs or penguins.

“There’s something about them that makes people happy,” says Amy Goldman, a confirmed Cucurbitacean (kyoo-kur-bit-a-see-an). It’s a term she coined to refer to a person who regards pumpkins, squashes and gourds — all members of the cucurbit family — with a “deep, often rapturous love.”

Goldman’s mission is to preserve the diversity of the world’s agricultural heritage, both as an author and as a hands-on grower at her farm in Rhinebeck, New York. After dealing with heirloom melons in her 2002 volume, “Melons for the Passionate Grower” (Artisan Books), Goldman followed up with her sequel, “The Complete Squash: A Passionate Grower’s Guide to Pumpkins, Squash and Gourds” (also Artisan Books).

“One major group of gourds include the inedible members of the cucurbit family, mainly of the species Cucurbit pepo,” says Goldman. “Their flesh is nauseatingly vile and bitter, although their seeds are quite palatable. You can’t serve them at dinner, but they are an essential holiday decoration for the fall harvest season, and I love them, warts and all.”

You can hardly miss these curious gourds if you visit farm stands and produce markets in October or November. Sold by the piece or the pound, they will keep for a month or two, gradually losing their bright colors.

There are many types, including the plump pear gourds, the long-necked spoon gourds, miniature balls in white and orange, fantastically warty hardheads and the pronged crown of thorns. Growers most often buy them as seed mixtures, rather than single varieties, since part of their wayward charm comes from natural cross-pollination.

Most ornamental gourds live a life of pure leisure, set upon mantels, gathered in baskets or decorating the holiday table. But one type, the nest egg gourd, actually has a mission. Poultry growers have long slipped this smooth, white, egg-shaped gourd into a hen’s nest to induce her to lay in an authorized spot, rather than choosing some secluded location in the barnyard.

Two other types of gourds are the luffas — the tough, fibrous interiors of which are used as sponges — and the hard-shell Lagenaria group, extremely durable when dried. The latter include the dipper, bottle and birdhouse gourds that have been pressed into service for centuries for prosaic purposes and as pure works of art.

Remains of such gourds filled with grain have been found in the pyramids of Egypt and the tombs of the Incas. Africans brewed beer in large gourds and made them into musical instruments. Nigerians and Chinese wore gourd hats to shade their heads from the sun. Gourds have been used for centuries as handy containers to store seeds and medicines, and as bowls and vases, as eating utensils and water jars.

Some gourd fans like Goldman worry that the diversity of gourds is diminishing since their natural utility as containers has been so widely replaced in the modern age by plastic, aluminum and glass. But, strangely, there is a thriving subculture of artisans who have raised gourd craft to the level of fine art.

A carved gourd as table lamp. — Calabarte/Creative Commons

GROWING GOURDS

Hard-shell gourds are an Old World species, originating in tropical Africa and eastern India. Squashes, pumpkins and gourds of the Cucurbit family, on the other hand, are products of the Americas, and have been grown in the New World for at least 3,000 years.

Representatives of both types can be grown here, but need to go in the ground as soon as the weather stabilizes in spring, since they need a growing season of 120 to 140 days to mature. Starting plants indoors will obviously give you a head start.

Vines grow vigorously to 12 or 15 feet, and an individual plant can gobble up an area of 18 square feet. Many gourds will climb and can be grown on a fence or trellis to conserve space.

Since gourds, squashes and pumpkins cross-pollinate so readily, it’s a good idea not to plant inedible kinds near the ones you intend to eat lest you wind up with a harvest that’s uniformly bitter. Select a site in full sun with a fertile soil that is moderately acid to neutral — a pH of 6.5 to 7 is ideal

Rapidly growing vines demand a liberal amount of water and nutrients, but there is wide disagreement about fertilizing them. One simple recommendation calls for mixing a 5-10-5 fertilizer into the soil before seeds are sown, and repeating the application 30 days later. The water supply should be reduced in late summer and early fall to promote ripening of the fruit.

Few pests bother hard-shell gourds, although snails and cucumber beetle larvae can attack seedlings. Ornamental gourds suffer more, and can be devastated by aphids, cucumber beetles, slugs and squash vine borers. Vigilance is the key, and any spraying with insecticides should be done at dusk, when bees are no longer active. You need the bees to pollinate plants for a good harvest.

Learning when to harvest gourds is the first step to proper curing. Picked too soon, they will rot; picked too late, and you may sacrifice the bright colors. Harvest gourds when the vine begins to turn brown. Leave a small piece of stem when you cull them to keep diseases from entering the fruit. Gourds can be washed in a mild bleach solution or wiped with a cloth dampened in rubbing alcohol to fend off rot.

LeT gourds cure in a warm, dry spot, spacing them so they are not touching. In about a week, the skin will become hard and tough, but it takes up to four weeks for ornamental gourds to thoroughly dry, and as much as six months to completely dry hard-shell gourds. These are ready to use when the seeds inside come loose and rattle.

Some experts advise against coating gourds in shellac, which seals in moisture and can promote rot. An acrylic liquid floor wax is recommended if you want to give your gourds a shine.

Thick-skinned ornamental gourds are the more perishable and generally won’t last more than two to three months. Hard-shell gourds lose color as they cure, becoming a uniform tan, but can last for many years and are the preferred gourd of craftsmen.

You may want to try your hand at turning your cured gourd into a homemade work of art — just check some of the gourd crafting websites for ideas and you’ll see that you’re limited only by the scope of your imagination. Otherwise, just enjoy them while they last. Startling, sensuous and often comic, gourds have character. Or rather, they are characters, with a style your average side dish will never achieve.

Learn more: See the American Gourd Society website for a wealth of information about growing, harvesting, drying and using gourds in craft projects. It also lists seed and craft supply sources.