Country Gardens – July 2019

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COUNTRY GARDENS // FA LL 2019

In high summer, the

temperature in Laurens, South Carolina, hits 90°F

and pretty much stays there—unless it gets even

hotter. It’s mighty steamy weather for people, but

at Ghost Creek Gourd Farm, owned by Dickie and

Linda Martin, the crop thrives in it.

The Martins specialize in hard-shell gourds

of every shape and size. These gourds are in the

Cucurbitaceae family—related to pumpkins,

melons, squash, and cucumbers—but they’re not

edible. Traditionally, hard-shell gourds have been

dried and used as containers, scoops, and musical

instruments. These days, crafters make sculptures,

jewelry, toys, lamps, bowls, puppets, birdhouses, and

even steampunk contraptions from gourds. They

paint them, stain them, carve them, and fashion

them into garden art, table decor, and funny gourd

hats. Whatever you do with them, they all start out

the same way: as a seed.

Through the humid South Carolina summer, the

Martins nurture gourd vines sprawling across the

red dirt on their 12-acre farm. Long-handle dipper

gourds and snake gourds dangle on slender stems

in the dappled light of a 70-foot gourd tunnel in

the couple’s backyard. Dickie gathers the previous

summer’s gourds, dirty and moldy after a winter in

the field, cleans them in his giant gourd-washing

tub, and leaves them to dry on a trailer parked on

the lawn. Linda sorts and measures gourds in the

barn, filling enormous construction bags with

hundreds of them.

The Martins grow canteen gourds, banana

gourds, curly-handle dipper gourds, and charming

little Tennessee spinners. Birdhouse gourds are

ABOVE LEFT Large birdhouse gourds are among the most popular shapes with crafters for birdhouses and other
projects, Dickie Martin says. ABOVE MIDDLE Linda and Dickie in their gourd tunnel. ABOVE RIGHT Some gourds,
including speckled swan gourds, are variegated as they grow, but they’re buff-color after they mature and dry.
BELOW LEFT Silky-petaled white gourd flowers open in the evening to be pollinated by night-flying moths.
BELOW MIDDLE A round canteen gourd is almost hidden by foliage. BELOW RIGHT Bottle gourds cluster on the
vine in the field. The narrow neck and bulbous top make it easy to hang one by a strap to be used as a container.