Gourds and Zinnias ~ Seed Saving
I wrote in Deep Summer how much I loved my zinnias and gourds. They aren't even edible and yet they are one of my very favorite parts of the veggie garden. Now all my gourds have been harvested and since I don't use sprays those nasty silvery bugs that like squash vines have been all over them. Some of the gourds will have been infected by them and will gradually just deflate like a balloon. I try to stem this by washing all the gourds in a sink of water with a splash of bleach and dish soap. Here is a sample of this year's bounty-
I have also said how I keep the seeds from year to year and thus don't have to buy more...and you get an ever changing variety as to what comes up. To get the seeds, simply keep the gourds over winter. After they start to lose their lovely shades and shine and begin to get parchment colored patches and moldy marks I put them in a bag out on the porch. Only keep ones that are still hard. A soft one will rot and, like apples, one bad one will spoil the bunch.
Come spring when the last hard frosts are over (here the magic date is April 22) you can plant out your gourds. It is as difficult as making a row down the garden, or turning up a patch of soil by a fence. Remember that these things will spread out tentacles like an octopus and while the gourds are lovely, by the time you are ready to harvest them the vines will be looking poorly- some are even withered down to twisted brownness by the time you pick. So this is not a plant that you put out by the front door for folks to admire...just warning you. Now that you have the dirt worked up, you simply crush open the dried gourds and pull out the seed ball inside that looks like it's wrapped in a loofah sponge.
Just scatter the seeds over the earth. Do the same with all your dried gourds, no need to worry about overlapping or spacing. Get some handfuls of dirt and sprinkle over to cover and stomp down with a foot. Now dust your hands off and give it a satisfied nod. Yep, the hard work is over. Now you let the spring rains come and coax the gourd-let babies out of their seed casings and into the light. You do need to keep grass from growing up to and smothering them when they are small. By the time you have stopped thinking or caring about that they will be big enough to fend for themselves. Later, as you go about picking veggies, you will look up and see a veritable sea of big green leaves and be astounded. Your gourds are covering the little spot of earth you call your own! And then you get to decorate with them.
I decorate for each month, according to season or holiday. I transition from seashells, glass fishing weights, coral and seaglass in August, which seems like summer vacation at the ocean to me, to the beginnings of fall in September. I put out my gourds, pick branches of apricot toned ornamental crabapples from my trees and put out neutrals that help me ease into the season of blazing colors. As the leaves change I will fill huge crocks with them, but that time is not yet come. I will have to tell you about our Autumn King Day at a later date. And so the gourds are out and will remain until October when I decorate for Halloween- hooray! Then they will make a reappearance in a faux bois planter filled with greenery and berries, set out with moss and pottery mushrooms and stuffed pheasants for November and Thanksgiving. I can hardly wait! But for now.....
Zinnia are similar to gourds in that they are an amazingly hardy, smile directly into the blazing August sun, kind of happy flower. There is a reason why kids grow them in Styrofoam cups in kindergarten- they are made of rubber and so refuse to die. Plant you a row from store-bought seed one year (pick several different varieties of mixed colors) and you will have zinnias forever. I plant a full row down the center of the garden so that I have masses for bouquets and so I have something to smile at when I am sweating in the dirt and cursing the prolificness of green beans.
To save zinnias you wait until they are nearing their final gasp, right about now in September. There will still be flowers, but most of the foliage will be sprawling, spotted and tired. All the flowers you have not picked will have become seed heads. Do NOT deadhead - you are just throwing away seeds!
They should have lost all of their petals and just be a cone shape of porcupine-like quills. Yank these off and put them in a bag. If they are even slightly damp, from shower or dew, you need to dry them back out. Otherwise you will have a bag of mold. Blech. So either spread them in the sun to dry, or put them on a cookie sheet and set them in the house. You just keep going out there every couple days until you have all the dried heads you want. Keep in mind that each head has about a bazillion seeds in and of itself. Put the dry heads in a zip-close bag and tuck away till spring.
Again you will wait till after your frost date to plant. Make a row, or patch. Reach into the bag and grab a handful of heads and crumble over the soil. Scatter over dirt, pat down, let God water. Some folks say to thin out the seedlings so the individual plants can get bigger. I just let them fight it out.
This is a plant you can show off to the neighbors. Put a clump by the mailbox, grow a stand by the garage. And don't let anyone tell you that they are vulgar, common flowers. While they slave over their bug-bitten tea roses you will have bevies, cascades, brilliant abundances of cheery flowers. How much are those sad little cellophane bundles of flowers at the grocery store? Well, you don't need 'em, you have your own flower shop outside. And as for color- I have never been a big fan of red and orange. You will not find a single garish color in my expanse of flowerbeds. But zinnias....for some reason I forgive them their brashness. They are like that loud-voiced, big-haired lady you know with all the vibrant makeup choices. She has a heart of gold and you just can't help love her and her flamboyancy. A huge, bright colored bouquet seems perfect for a country kitchen. I also have all the other shades, from hot pink and lavender to pale yellow, white, and the most luscious shades of pale apricots that make you think of summer peaches. So I pick a hot mix for my butter colored kitchen, bright pinks and lavender for my green living room, and the dreamy peaches and cream for my sky blue bedroom. Like I say, a whole florist shop of options from one simple row.
And now that you are a pro at saving seeds, if you ever have too much- and you will- you can sew up some pretty envelopes out of waxed paper and fill them with seed to give to friends. And you can rightfully say that they are YOUR own, personal blend.
I have also said how I keep the seeds from year to year and thus don't have to buy more...and you get an ever changing variety as to what comes up. To get the seeds, simply keep the gourds over winter. After they start to lose their lovely shades and shine and begin to get parchment colored patches and moldy marks I put them in a bag out on the porch. Only keep ones that are still hard. A soft one will rot and, like apples, one bad one will spoil the bunch.
Just scatter the seeds over the earth. Do the same with all your dried gourds, no need to worry about overlapping or spacing. Get some handfuls of dirt and sprinkle over to cover and stomp down with a foot. Now dust your hands off and give it a satisfied nod. Yep, the hard work is over. Now you let the spring rains come and coax the gourd-let babies out of their seed casings and into the light. You do need to keep grass from growing up to and smothering them when they are small. By the time you have stopped thinking or caring about that they will be big enough to fend for themselves. Later, as you go about picking veggies, you will look up and see a veritable sea of big green leaves and be astounded. Your gourds are covering the little spot of earth you call your own! And then you get to decorate with them.
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| gourds, dried pods from a tulip tree, crabapple branches, and a knot of driftwood my Hubby found for me |
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| Two tiny gourds and dried aster and a grass my middle son found me that looks like fluffy bunny slippers! |
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| I don't buy things to decorate with, just go around to cabinets and bookshelves and find things that are the right colors for my mood.... |
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| Gourds are gourd-eous in my green living room! |
Zinnia are similar to gourds in that they are an amazingly hardy, smile directly into the blazing August sun, kind of happy flower. There is a reason why kids grow them in Styrofoam cups in kindergarten- they are made of rubber and so refuse to die. Plant you a row from store-bought seed one year (pick several different varieties of mixed colors) and you will have zinnias forever. I plant a full row down the center of the garden so that I have masses for bouquets and so I have something to smile at when I am sweating in the dirt and cursing the prolificness of green beans.
 |
| Zinnias with a sea of gourd vines sprawling behind |
To save zinnias you wait until they are nearing their final gasp, right about now in September. There will still be flowers, but most of the foliage will be sprawling, spotted and tired. All the flowers you have not picked will have become seed heads. Do NOT deadhead - you are just throwing away seeds!
They should have lost all of their petals and just be a cone shape of porcupine-like quills. Yank these off and put them in a bag. If they are even slightly damp, from shower or dew, you need to dry them back out. Otherwise you will have a bag of mold. Blech. So either spread them in the sun to dry, or put them on a cookie sheet and set them in the house. You just keep going out there every couple days until you have all the dried heads you want. Keep in mind that each head has about a bazillion seeds in and of itself. Put the dry heads in a zip-close bag and tuck away till spring.
Again you will wait till after your frost date to plant. Make a row, or patch. Reach into the bag and grab a handful of heads and crumble over the soil. Scatter over dirt, pat down, let God water. Some folks say to thin out the seedlings so the individual plants can get bigger. I just let them fight it out.
This is a plant you can show off to the neighbors. Put a clump by the mailbox, grow a stand by the garage. And don't let anyone tell you that they are vulgar, common flowers. While they slave over their bug-bitten tea roses you will have bevies, cascades, brilliant abundances of cheery flowers. How much are those sad little cellophane bundles of flowers at the grocery store? Well, you don't need 'em, you have your own flower shop outside. And as for color- I have never been a big fan of red and orange. You will not find a single garish color in my expanse of flowerbeds. But zinnias....for some reason I forgive them their brashness. They are like that loud-voiced, big-haired lady you know with all the vibrant makeup choices. She has a heart of gold and you just can't help love her and her flamboyancy. A huge, bright colored bouquet seems perfect for a country kitchen. I also have all the other shades, from hot pink and lavender to pale yellow, white, and the most luscious shades of pale apricots that make you think of summer peaches. So I pick a hot mix for my butter colored kitchen, bright pinks and lavender for my green living room, and the dreamy peaches and cream for my sky blue bedroom. Like I say, a whole florist shop of options from one simple row.
And now that you are a pro at saving seeds, if you ever have too much- and you will- you can sew up some pretty envelopes out of waxed paper and fill them with seed to give to friends. And you can rightfully say that they are YOUR own, personal blend.
