Kem Ormond’s vegetable garden: How to grow gourds and coloured corn

Coloured corn is fun to grow and harvest, and then pile up in a trug or old basket. Photo / Unsplash, Markus Winkler

Kem Ormond is a features writer for The Country.

She’s also a keen gardener.

This week, she’s growing decorative vegetables and gives a roundup on what’s happening in her garden.

OPINION

This summer, I am going to grow a couple of decorative vegetables—namely, coloured corn and gourds.

To me, a basket of coloured corn is like a new piece of artwork and decorating gourds is something I have always wanted to try.

Bottle gourds

Start the gourd seeds off indoors and plant out only after the last frost has passed.

Once the soil starts warming up, the growing will begin.

Soak seeds for 24 hours or overnight by placing them in a cup of warm water.

This will speed up the process of the seeds sprouting; otherwise, it can take up to two weeks for the process to begin.

Sow at 2cm deep into seed-raising mix with one seed per small pot or individual seedling containers.

You can use a seedling tray, but they must be transplanted before they grow their first leaves (the leaves that come after the sun leaves), as they don’t like to have their roots disturbed.

They like to be kept in a warm sunny spot out of the frost.

Their growth habit is very much like a cucumber, melon, or pumpkin plant (they’re all in the cucurbit family).

They are best planted about a metre apart.

Bottle gourds are greedy feeders, so prepare your well-turned soil with lots of compost, then feed every two weeks with something like liquid seaweed.

They can grow on the ground, but this is not ideal, because gourds will rot if they come into contact with wet ground.

A bean fence is ideal.

The structure needs to be solid, so avoid growing them on chicken wire, which will not have the strength needed.

It’s best to leave the gourds on the vine for as long as you can.

Eventually, the vine will start to take all the moisture back out of the gourd to assist it in drying.

If you harvest the gourd too early, then you’ll have to air dry, and this takes much longer.

Leave until the leaves start to die off and the stem starts to turn brown.

A gourd makes a lovely birdhouse. Photo / Unsplash, Fabricio Severo

You will be able to feel the gourds become lighter.

The sun and rain will also help harden off the gourds and cure the outside.

The gourds will still need to finish the drying process under cover for at least a couple of months, although this process can take longer.

Then sit or hang them somewhere dry with good airflow, such as a garage or workshop, preferably with shelving.

Make sure you rotate them once a week to avoid any soft spots or rotting.

You’ll be able to feel the difference between a dry gourd and one that needs more time.

A dry gourd will be brown, feel noticeably light, sound hollow when you tap on it, and you’ll be able to hear the seeds when you shake it.

That is when it’s ready to start cleaning, creating, vanishing, or painting.

They make lovely bird houses, too.

Coloured corn

Coloured corn can be very decorative. Photo / Unsplash, Markus Winkler

Indian corn, glass corn, rainbow corn, flint corn, ornamental corn, blue corn…you may have heard of some coloured corn referred to by some of these names.

They are fun to grow and harvest, and then pile up in a trug or old basket.

Grow like regular corn and make sure you do your homework when making your selection; some coloured corn can be used for popping, while some can be ground into flour to make blue tortillas.

One thing is for sure, they are a great talking piece when you have visitors!

Kem’s garden roundup

I read last week that there might be a shortage of salad greens, due to all this rain and flooding that has been occurring.

This makes it even more important you plant some of those essential greens that will see you through to summer.

I have some lovely pea pods and shoots I can add to salads; my miner’s lettuce is producing well, and I have a tray of microgreens on my windowsill.

In the garden, I still have plenty of leeks, spring onions, cauli, cabbage, broccoli, and red peppers that I can add to bulk up any salad.

I have pruned my grapevine, and my mandarin tree is swathed in fruit.

I have calendulas due to flower, which I love adding to dishes for a splash of colour.