I just can't seem to get these newsletters out when I plan on it. This time camera and email troubles slowed me down but I now I can finally get it together.

Gourd Surprises!

That's what you get when you let volunteer plants grow. Last year I noticed some gourd plants starting to grow around the area I was using for a compost pile. I hadn't planned on growing gourds in that area and was using it to grow perennials for the nursery. But over the days I procrastinated about what to do, they grew so nice I hated to pull them. By then I could tell they were ornamental gourds. I figured they were going to be spoons or eggs.

One group did end up to be egg gourds that grew to a nice size. That was great but the ones that had me excited looked like a cross between an egg gourd and spoon gourd. I watched these grow all summer long, envisioning what I was going to do with them. Fall came and I ended up with a nice crop of beauties.

Not thinking, I left them outside to dry all winter. Spring came and when it was time to start seeds for this years crop of gourds, it came to me that I would want to try and grow some more of these. But was I going to get any to germinate?  I really should have taken the nicest shapes in before they froze to make sure the seeds would be viable. Luckily at least one grew and I thought I would have a few to save seeds from this year. When I harvested the ornamentals there weren't many of these gourds so looks like I will have to try to get some to grow next year from my original crop. Oh well :(

But I bet you are anxious to see what I did with these unusual ornamentals? Keep reading and I will show you.

Continued below...

	I wonder if you can see what I saw all last summer when I was watching these grow. One clue is that I do lots of Christmas ornaments. If you guessed that I saw Santa Claus, then you guessed right. Let me show you how I used this gourd for Santa. First I found the spot on the curvy neck that I would be right for the hanger. I drilled a small hole, knotted a loop of gold thread, used a dab of glue in the hole and pressed in the knot.
	I painted the base colors. This Santa will have a long coat instead of a jacket. Then I started the detail. For the trim around his hat and coat, I use Aleene's True Snow to give me some texture. I have an old paintbrush with stiff bristles sticking out and I use this to dab on the snow.

After everything was dry I used 3 coats of gloss polycrylic to seal them. People seem to like them shiny so that is what I use.  Then I put a little pompom on the end of his hat. Here is a snowman I did with my oddball gourds.

If you are looking for a gourd gift for your favorite gourdaholic and know they have a book on their list but you aren't sure which one, why not give them a Gift Certificateto Amazon so they can pick out the one they want.

If you are not a member of the American Gourd Society yet you are missing out. They now have a full color gourd magazine with great pictures, articles and how to's. If you don't want to miss out on getting these great publications just go here for instructions on joining the American Gourd Society.

Till next time.
Happy Gourding!

Martha