Posted on 10/22/2022 6:26:38 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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my farmer friend said that gourds that match are all from the same plant...
Try to describe a gourd and you might find it trickier than you thought. Perhaps the word makes you think of those gnarly squash-like fruits that show up with pumpkins in the fall. However, gourds come in many more shapes and colors, and range in size from a large egg to bigger than a bushel basket. Dried gourds can be stained, painted, waxed, or carved into dippers, birdhouses, toys, bowls, and planters. Musical instruments such as flutes, lutes, maracas, and drums can be fashioned from the hard-shelled fruit. Small gourds, left whole, add splashes of color to autumn decor. And did you know that the luffa sponge comes from a gourd?
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What Is a Gourd?
Gourds, like pumpkins, melons, squash and cucumbers, are members of the cucurbit or squash family. Like their cousins, gourds grow on long vines. There are three major gourd groups. Cucurbit gourds are small, decorative, colorful, thick-shelled and sometimes warty. Lagenaria gourds are larger and can be used for a variety of utilitarian or decorative functions. This group includes bottle, basket, and dipper gourds. The third group is the luffa gourd. Its elongated fruit contains a fibrous material that is used as a sponge. Most gourds are strictly ornamental, but a few can be eaten like summer squash, if they are harvested young.
List of different types at link:
https://www.bhg.com/gardening/vegetable/vegetables/types-of-gourds/
I think gourds are pretty. I have a few in some pottery as a decoration on my front porch bench. I pared down my decorations this year thanks to Old Joe. It’s one of the little changes I can make to save that money for other more necessary items.
I'm almost hesitate to plant anything, even my native plants are suffering.
A few pulled through like this pink bower vine:
And trumpet flower "tree":
It's cool in the house and hot outside so they can't seem to make up their minds:
We finally got a good rain ! Now have to figure out what to do with green tomatoes.
"Are any gourds edible?"
Answer: Some ARE and some Are NOT.
So FYI:
From www.livestrong.com -
Our very young son planted his gourd seeds early in the season in Iowa.
He grew “warty” guards and saved them until they turned goopy...
.
Pick the green tomatoes, put them in a paper bag along with some
of the branches and leaves that you have cut off of your
(now defunct) tomato plants. Fold over the top of the bag(s)
and place in a cool - but not cold - place. Wait a month or so -
but check them regularly for ripeness or the beginning of rot.
If they start to rot, toss 'em.
The drying/decaying plant material will emit some ethylene gas
which will take cause the green tomatoes to get somewhat ripe.
Vine-ripened tomatoes are obviously better - but these bag-ripened
ones are better than green tomatoes.
I personally do not care for green tomatoes.
The local deer DO, of course - but they have had ENOUGH
already for one year!
.
My "Wildlife Feeding Station" ie: 'Vegetable Garden' is now closed for the year. (Except the bird feeders.)
/sarc
Great addition! Thanks! :)
We’ve had several hard freezes here the last week so the garden is basically done, except for the celery and Brussel Sprouts, which I was able to protect.
I am surprised at the crop I got from the celery. I have been busy drying the leaves for celery flakes to add to soups and stews in the event that this winter celery should become unavailable.
The forecast for the northeast is for a week in the 60’s and lows in the 40’s. This is great as mr. mm and I are getting a LOT of outdoor stuff done. We expect to have our wood pile all split and stacked by the end of the week.
I’ve cleaned out most of the garden and will have the straw ready to cover the garlic and asparagus beds when the ground freezes.
I got about 20 butternut squash, which will last us a good long time, and need to get those down into the garage for storage. They are finished curing.
I’m already planning out next year’s garden and will be starting celery, Brussel sprouts, onions, and shallots, earlier in the spring than I did this year.
Not sure what kind of squash I’ll grow next year. I have enough pumpkin from last year yet, most of it canned, to last me a long time. I guess I’ll have to see how fast the butternut gets eaten and how long it will keep.
We have been given a blessed BONUS of 4 days in a row in the 70’s. It’s just gorgeous outside and exactly what Fall Days should be like!
Beau is catching up on mowing jobs for the neighbors. We got our latest steer calf. Named him ‘Chuck.’ Beau also started staining the deck, so that project is underway.
I am finally done with all of my canning and preserving. I am down to one box of apples, which we will eat fresh, the rest have been juiced and/or made into pies which I froze, apple butter and apple sauce. That Luberty apple is great for sauce. If you cook the apples down with the skins on (though cored) the color is a gorgeous shade of pink.
So, I am cleaning out more garden beds, and we have enough leaves this season (less windy than usual, though breezy today) to use them for mulch over the strawberries, the asparagus and the new bulbs I’m going to plant. Puppies last season dug up a bunch, but they have been forgiven. Both have turned out to be stellar bear hunting dogs. Shasta and Fremont. Good Dogs! WOOF!
Mowing is done for the season - what grass is left will be for Chuck to graze until there is no more.
Bear Season is done, so Beau is home more, now. Yay! They treed 56 black bear from July through mid-October, which was a record. They only had a few tags this season, so they only culled 6 bear, I think, though one was over 500# and most likely a record setter for the season in Wisconsin. Beau got the biggest Back Bear in 2016.
I’ll post some pix later this week of fall-ish things around the farm. And my salad greens are growing great in the greenhouse and outside in a few 5 gallon nursery pots.
I’d better, ‘make hay while the sun shines!’ Later! :)
I still have WAY too much pumpkin and butternut in the freezer, so this year I grew Thelma Sander's Sweet Potato Squash. It's very good! And plenty of seeds for roasting, too.
It's an acorn-type, but keeps longer and actually has FLAVOR. It's quite sweet so you can drastically cut back on the brown sugar, if you like it that way. I find regular Acorn squash exceedingly BORING.
It's also an Heirloom variety. Baker Creek and Jung's both carry seed for it.
Thanks, Pete!
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