General Chat

At the moment, there seems to be a plethora of lovely shaped and coloured gourds in the shops. Has anyone used them say , in a bowl as decoration, and do you have to dry them first. How long do they last.
Thanks
Julia in Derbyshire

Thanks Christina - they fascinate me too. They have them in Morrisons as it is now Pumpkin season. When I nip in, this afternoon, I am going to get 2 or 3 as decorations in my kitchen, as their colours fit in with my colour scheme. They are priced at 69p and £1.
Thanks
Julia in Derbyshire

Budgie.......just a thought . Have you tryed putting a ripe banana in with your green tomatoes ?........it sometimes spurs them into going red .

I've grown gourds in the past ( thought I'd turn them into maracas........lol )

they stay attractive for quite some time : )

Budgie

Put your green toms in a dark draw or cupboard they will be red in about a week,,,

mine are still turning red on outside plants

I was going to say I wish I was six years old..........but on retrospect I wouldn't want to be a child in todays world.........lol

I hadn't grown toms until this year and the old banana worked well for me : ))

Budgie, the old lady I work for has loads of small green tomatoes which she says will ripen in a dark drawer no problem. At the minute I'm picking the half ripe ones and sticking them in with the ripe ones and they're ripening off in two or three days

Barb

http://www.wikihow.com/Ripen-Green-Tomatoes

You might find some useful suggestions here Budgie .

Hi Yah Budgie - you must have posted as I was going out to get me Gourds. Got three beauties, which OH hasn't spotted decorating the ktchen yet, then to the garden centre for me Sunday afternoon cuppa. Anyway, just had a Goole under 'green tomatoe recipes', and there are loads of recipes., including curries. No need to make chutney ever again. By the way, when I was stripping mine down the other week, it was a yellow variety, I put a ripe one in the kitchen window bottom, and lined the unripe ones aside it, and within a week they were ripe.
Hope this helps.
Have fun with them
Julia in Derbyshire

Budgie

A memory jogger that!!

From an old film ... fried tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe?

Have you tried frying them?

Julia ... I have grown them in the past ... dried them out in airing cupboard then varnished them.

Apologies Carol -
I did not see your message to me until running through the thread this morning. I am interested to see that you have grown the gourds and dried them. Maybe you could let me know all about it. I am getting hooked now at the prospect of growing my own next year, and will have a look on Google later this afternoon.

Budgie
Glad you found a successful use for your tomatoes. I will remember that for next year, when we go through the same dilemma again, as us gardeners usually do.

Julia in Derbyshire