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.

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