Gone Gardenin’ – My gourd-ness! Dried gourd ornaments stunning

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/12/2014 (4135 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As many of my readers will know, when the Christmas season arrives — or any other holiday for that matter — I like to decorate as much as possible using natural materials.

I think it is the gardener (or the farmer, as I was raised on a farm) in me, but I simply prefer natural materials over the glitz and glitter of artificial décor.

Granted, a lot of the artificial decorations we see nowadays are very realistic and you have to take a close look to determine if some of them are natural or artificial. I do admit to using non-natural materials to add colour and focal points to displays.

Many of you also know that I grow decorative gourds and mini-pumpkins and I have always used these unique items to create Thanksgiving baskets and autumn displays.

Gourds, however, also can be used to make Christmas decorations and I have seen some wonderful examples of Christmas ornaments that have been fashioned from decorative gourds.

These ornaments are made from gourds that have been dried, and I have never intentionally tried to dry gourds. In years past, I have kept some of the gourds I’ve used for fall displays and not discarded them, mostly because they were so attractive I could not bring myself to pitch them out. Some of them have dried successfully, with no intervention from me, so I don’t think it is a difficult process.

I am going to try to dry some of my gourds this year — intentionally — so I will pay closer attention to the steps that I should take.

The first step is to select hard, blemish-free gourds that show no sign of spoilage.

I will make sure they are clean — they probably will be as I wash them before using them to create my autumn decor, but I will give them a wipe with a cloth dampened in a bleach solution to get rid of any bacteria or fungi on the rind. I will make sure they are dried well after the cleaning process.

Next I will choose a place to dry my gourds — a dry, dark place with good air circulation. In past years, when I have dried them accidentally, they were located in the furnace room, simply sitting in a bowl.

This year I will use that same location, since it is warm, dry, and dark, but I will place the gourds on a piece of wire mesh or lattice to promote better air circulation — they won’t be jammed into a bowl and sitting on the workbench! I will ensure that they are not touching each other while they are drying.

Air circulation is not that great in the furnace room, so I may run a small fan to increase air flow. I will check the gourds regularly, probably once at week, and look for soft spots or any discolouration like black or blue residue on them.

If I see any spots, I will determine them, but if the gourd has begun to soften and rot, I will discard it as the process cannot be stopped once it begins. If the spots just seem to be on the surface and the rind appears hard and undamaged, I will wipe the area with a cloth rinsed in a bleach solution to remove the offending bacteria or mould.

The drying process, I am sure, will take most of the winter, so I will not be able to use any of my dried gourds until next spring. I will be able to tell if a particular gourd has been successfully dried by shaking it. If I can hear the seeds rattling around inside the gourd, then I will know that it is dry.

I will handle the dry gourds carefully as they will be brittle and their outer skin can be damaged easily. I will store them in a dry, warm, dark place until I decide how to use them.

I will have to decide what I am going to make using my dried gourds. Maybe I will make some Christmas ornaments for next year, although I will not be able to duplicate the wonderful works of art that I have seen others create using their dried gourds.

It will be an interesting experiment.

I would like to wish my readers a very Merry Christmas!

Albert Parsons is a consultant for garden design and landscaping who lives in Minnedosa.

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