Spring Gourd Fling project - Inspirational Dried Flowers

 The Crackled Apples are always trying to use up leftovers, repurpose materials, and in many ways make do with what already exists. In this year's Gourd Fling, once the seedlings were planted we met in the adjoining pavilion and worked on a gourd project (after eating of course, YumYum!).

Each of us picked and dried early spring flowers and weeds if truth be told. Flattening them in folds of paper toweling and the weight of book pages. As you saw in previous posts, this gourd patch is no stranger to repurposing discarded books!  Some of those books are very handy when it comes to dehydrating violets, clover, and some no-name weed leaves. Only one book became molded but we think that's because the flowers chosen were too fat (and therefore moist) to be dried flat.

BUT, on to the project!  Gourd bowls were provided that had already been opened, gutted, and sanded smooth. Some members used Dollar Tree rub-on tattoos to add an inspirational message before using small bottles of ModPodge to drop a bit of liquid on the gourd surface. The dot was finger-patted to spread it around before using the same finger to touch the dried flower petal or leaf to place it on the damp ModPodge area. Continued patting with the same finger covers the petal/leaf and, if needed, a bit more ModPodge is added.  The tattoo was patted with the ModPodge as well. 

Once dried, one gourder used various drill bits to make holes around her design and made a luminary (using a click-on LED light that sits inside the gourd). That's 'sparked' a whole new area of interest among the group!  One person realized clover leaves are actually comprised of heart-shaped petals and another sees the value of thin-walled gourds since those tend to 'glow' with light as well as show the light through the wall. 

Spring Fling at the Arboretum - the Planting

 When the Crackled Apples showed up at the VA State Arboretum to plant our section of the Community Garden, we had seedlings ready to go into the ground!  We started them in egg cartons from seeds taken from the previous year's project, then replanted them into peat pots as they got bigger with a true leaf. Once we dug the holes in our section, the peat-pot seedlings went into the ground and a gallon-size aluminum can (green bean cans from a local school with the top and bottom cut off) was positioned over the plant as a wall of protection.

A few plants succumbed to the pests at large in the wide-open areas of an arboretum as you can imagine, but those were replaced with spares we kept on hand for such a situation. 

Since this was initially posted on June 5, the plants have continued to grow and are now setting fruit [June 30]!  The VLGS uses a LOT of spinner gourds for the youth outreach programs we do throughout the year so this wall of gourd vines are spinners. The vines for the larger apple, dipper, and canteen gourds are on the opposite wall of fencing that supports the arbor we use as our gardening space. The spinner gourd area is setting fruit, YeeHa!