Seedlings Are Growing

My friend, Larry, who got me interested in gourds in the first place, gave me some gourd plants that he started in his greenhouse. They have about a month head start on the ones I planted. So I’d better get going on preparing the ground so I can get them planted. However, it got down to 41 last night, so I probably shouldn't be in any big hurry.



Also, we visited the twins and here's a picture of Great-grandpa with one of them (can't remember which one)!

Twins Have Arrived

I know this isn't about gourds, but I must post a picture of our new little twin great-grandsons. They are so precious.

Diana, our granddaugher, gave birth on March 30th first to Micah who weighed 5 lb 10 oz. He was head down so she could birth him naturally. Levi was breach but he cooperated. Right after Micah was born, Levi stuck out a foot and the doctor grabbed it. He tickled the bottom of Levi's foot and out came the other one. The doctor grabbed it and out Levi came, less than 2 minutes after Micah. He weighed 5 lb 8 oz.

Both babies were health, no need for an incubator. This picture of Art holding the twins was when they were less than an hour old.

I'm sure I'll be posting more pictures later. And oh did I mention that Diana and Nick have another son who turned two the day the twins were born. What are the chances? Three kids two and under all with the same birthday. Makes it easy for great-grandparents to remember birth dates!

Little Seedlings Are Doing Well

April 1 -
They’re coming right along. I’m watering them about every other day. I keep the canopy over them at night and take it off in the morning so they can get full sun and the breeze keeps them strong. There's a few pots that haven't sprouted yet. The seeds in those pots were from a gourd I got at Welburn. Perhaps it froze at some point. Most of the seeds I purchased over the internet and those are all sprouting. It's fun to watch them grow.

They're Alive!

March 21
I took the cover off to water the peat pots and there it was – the very first seedling popping its head through the soil. What a beautiful sight!

Built a Hothouse

March 16 – A plastic bag is fine until they pop through but once they start to grow they will need room. So Art helped me build a mini-hothouse out of PVC pipe and plastic sheeting. It was pretty easy and went together fast. Art cemented the joints so it wouldn’t come apart when I took it off to water the plants.

I had the plants in the peat pots sitting on a small table. We built the hothouse just a bit smaller than the table and about a foot high leaving room for the plants to get a good start before I put them in the ground

The table fit nicely under the trellis where last year's gourds are hanging to dry.

Into the peat pots they go.

March 12 - I’ve been checking every day to make sure the paper towels don’t dry out. And guess what? They actually started sprouting! So I thought I should get them into the peat pots because the roots don’t like to be disturbed. If the roots get too big while in the paper towels, they will break off when I try to plant them and then they will not grow.

I used potting soil that I had on hand for African violets. Hope that works out OK. I would think it should be the same mixture that gourds would like to grow.



I labeled each peat pot and placed three or four seeds in each pot about an inch down. Then I watered each one very carefully making it very moist but not soggy.

I wanted them to stay warm so I put each pan in a plastic bag. That way when I put them in the sun during the day, they would be nice and warm and not dry out.

Playing Catch Up

I wanted to get this blog going before I launched a new year of growing gourds. But that just didn’t happen. So I’ll play catch up and explain what I’ve done so far.

March 6th – I placed my seeds between wet paper towels in a pan, covered them and set them on a heating pad at very low temp. It’s been said that plants that bare fruit above ground should be planted between the new moon and the full moon. The full moon in March was on the 11th. Whether or not it works – it can’t hurt, right?