Grow Birdhouse Gourds

While you’re planting food and flowers in your garden, why not plant a garden craft, as well?

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While you ’re plant food and flowers in your garden , why not plant a gardencraft , as well ? Birdhouse orbottle gourds(Lagenaria siceraria ) are one of the thick - skinned gourds that are mainly grown for crafts or decoration .

grow birdhouse calabash and then preparing them as a bird ’s next prime real acres is a garden project that anyone can do and a majuscule circle - of - living lesson plan for kids ( or you , if you need one ) . Gourd birdhouse are attractive to many species of razzing including jenny wren , chickadee , swallow , bluebirds , titmice , and nuthatches .

The birdhouse calabash is the whitened - flowering gourd coinage that produce the severely - shelled fruit mainly used for crafts . The lily-livered - flower gourds ( Cucurbitspp . ) are the thin - skinned and used as colorful decorations . you may purchase birdhouse gourd seed from local nurseries or seed catalogs . It ’s preferred to get them into the primer coat as soon as the last frost escort in your areas has passed since they can take anywhere from 125 - 140 days to mature .

Birdhouse gourds can be grown on the minor “ James Jerome Hill ” that is the traditional way of growing squash or gourds . However , because they are a long - time of year crop , they cease up ride on the ground for foresightful period and could become stinky on the side touching the soil . One way to deflect this problem is to use 3 ” or so of mulch around the vines and under the yield , however , it ’s just as promiscuous to produce them up trellis ’s , fence or cages instead .

In fact , as a suburbanite , I ’m always game for repeat up on infinite . So , you could hear planting another veggie like peas right up the treillage or fence with the gourds . The nice thing about pea plant is that they are a leguminous plant , so instead of steal N from the growing calabash , they actually fix nitrogen into the territory . How to Plant Birdhouse Gourds

Outdoors : pawn the seeds in water overnight to give them a peg - up on sprouting . Plant the seeds in situ ( in their permanent slur ) as soon as the last freeze date has passed in your country . plant life 5 seeded player per compost hill about 5 ” apart . When seedlings start to take off , you ’ll want to thin out them to one seedling per hill , ideally .

If you want to take aim them up a trellis or fence , plant the seeds about 2’-3 ’ apart ( intersperse pea plant seeds in between if you ’d like ) . Birdhouse gourds like well - drain ground and some compost or composted manure tossed in there once in a while .

Indoors : you’re able to get down the seeds indoors by a few weeks ( soak them first ) before the last hoar escort , but plant them in peat toilet so you’re able to plant them directly into their permanent bed without disturbing their sore theme . Then go ahead and engraft them out of doors after the last frost escort .

Harvesting Birdhouse gourd

The gourds will endure a light icing , so let them ripen on the vine as long as potential . But soon after that , you ’ll postulate to harvest them and contribute them indoors for several month to bring around the rest of the direction . The gourds will be ready to harvest when the stems wrench brown , but as I enjoin , if Jack Frost has brought more than two travelling bag , he ’s there to stay so go ahead and land the gourd in spite of appearance .

Take a sharp tongue and abridge the stem of the gourd from the vine . Handle the gourds carefully because they bruise well at this phase . Wipe off any wet and keep them in a cool and aery place to dry out for mayhap 3 months . It ’s hard to say incisively how long it will take for them to fully age , but suffice it to say ; the smaller ones will be ready quicker , etc . If cast appears , just scratch it off with a knife . If any of the gourd get soft or mushy – toss away it into the compost pile ( because Iknowyou have a compost cumulation ) .

Make a Birdhouse

During the curing process , the gourd could go from pale tusk , rust , beiges or mottled gray vividness ; each one will be unequaled . Bottles that are fully teetotal or cured will be light - weighting ( nothing like when you first reap them ) , light brown and hard . The seeds in spite of appearance will rattle when you give the bottle a shake . At this power point aside from the entry holes , you ’ll be drilling a few others , as well .

A few small hole will need to be drilled on the under side of the gourd for drain as well as two pickle on either side at the very top of the neck . Those last two pickle will be for threading a cord or wire through so that you may attend the birdhouses outdoors . you may also seal the outside of the gourds before you cling them up , but they ’ll last outdoors about two years if you decide not to .

So , you plant your gourd seeds , they grow and flower . The flowers lure beneficial insects to your yard , serve to give you a great food for thought harvest . The gourd vine develop and dry out . You then get your crafty chapeau on and create a masterpiece of a home plate for the raspberry and hang them up . The next growing time of year , you have birds using the condos and acting as vegetable sentries as they eat on thou of bug pests in your garden . Once again , you harvest a bounteous solid food crop .

The plan is mere , but gardening always lend compelling grounds of how everything is on earth is connected ( I ’ll stop here before I break into Kumbaya ) .

Specific Bird Blueprints for Birdhouse calabash

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This photo is byRadisha Simmonsunder the Creatve Commons Attribution 2.0 License.Photo/Illustration: Radisha Simmons

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