Home Grown 273 September 30, 2004

I am growing some gourds for the first time and I need to know how to handle them so they will dry. A friend said to leave them on until there is a hard frost and another friend said to pick them when they aren’t quite hard and poke holes in them so they will dry. Both don’t seem quite right; so what do I do?

Congratulations, your instincts are excellent. As we know from other garden goodies, frosted tissue is frozen tissue and shortly thereafter, is rotten tissue. Dump the frost idea. Poking holes into soft tissue is going to let in bacteria. Combine moisture from the soft gourd and bacteria and you have primordial ooze. Now we get to start over with another direction. Gourds are ready to pick when the outside hide has begun to harden. The longer you can leave them in a dry, frost-free garden, the better. Wet or frosting gardens can cause rots and spots. When you decide to harvest them, cut the stems with a pair of pruners. Cut as long as you can. Again, rots can begin when stems are short or if they are broken right off the top of the gourd. This goes for harvesting pumpkins and winter squash, too. This gives you a nice "handle." Try not to slam them around too much in case some of the gourds are still a bit soft. Brush off any dirt. Some people will also wash them after picking. Wash them with a mixture of one part household bleach and nine parts water. Then dry them well. This will eliminate more potential rot bacteria on the outside of the gourds. Store them out of the weather. It needs to be dry with circulating air to facilitate drying. You can put them in a single layer on newspapers. Unfortunately, some will collapse and rot no matter what you do but the majority should be just fine.

So what’s the difference between Canadian peat and Michigan peat? A couple of Master Gardeners have told me to get Canadian for gardening. Peat is peat; right?

Wrong. In this case, Canadian peat is peat and Michigan peat is really a decomposed sedge grass. The difference comes when you compare how acidic they are. Canadian peat is acidic. Often, Michigan peat is not. Most Michigan peat comes from dredging or digging in areas that were once wet. If you’ve seen a pond being dug, there is often a layer of gray slimy material that is also pulled up. This isn’t clay. It is marl. Marl is decomposed calcitic limestone. Limestone raises soil pH. Canadian peat is fibrous while Michigan peat is made of very small particles that can compact. Michigan peat is difficult to get wet initially and is difficult to get dry when it does get wet. If used on the top of a soil surface, it erodes with rains and blows away when dry. Ah yes, but it is cheaper than Canadian peat. If you are trying to acidify soil for the planting of Rhododendrons, Azaleas, blueberries, holly, Pieris or other plants that need a low pH, use Canadian.

How do I save seeds from some of my flowers?

Wait until the seed heads mature and turn brown on the plants and pick them. Separate the seeds out and put them in a shallow container to dry. Keep the layer of seeds as thin as possible. When they appear to be dry, store them in paper envelopes or paper bags. Any trapped moisture will destroy the seeds. This why plastic bags can cause problems. Label and store in a cool, dry area for springtime planting.

Gretchen Voyle, MSU Extension-Livingston County Horticulture
Agent 517/546-3950

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