Crown of Thorns gourds are four inches broad with spikes kind of mounting on their surface. They come in colors ranging from cream, yellow, orange to green. Crown of Thorns gourds grown in your own vegetable garden can be used in dishes and recipes as a substitute for squash and zucchini. The young, gentle and pre-matured gourd fruit is widely preferred for eating.

Growing gourds is fun and easy. A sunny location with warm climatic conditions is the basic necessity for gourds to thrive. A well-drained rich organic soil with pH of 6.5 to 6.8 is desired for growing gourds. Gourds demand an extended growing season. The seeds are started 2 to 4 weeks prior to planting them outside only after the final frost of the season. Seeds germinate successfully with in 8 to 10 days when sown in individual pots and containers that are placed indoors.

Transplanting seedlings in your garden area should be done with extra care. Do not disturb the roots while placing them in garden beds. Due to their climbing tendency, spacing between the plants is vital; otherwise it may result in overcrowding and poor growth. Gourds easily adapt to climbing up a trellis, a fence or an arbor to support growth.

Planting 2 inches deep, 2 to 3 feet apart in a row and 5 to 8 feet distance between each row is adequate for growing Crown of Thorns in full sun. Well prepared beds of loose fertile soil mixed with compost or peat moss, proper supply of water and growing supplements ensures healthy growing plants. Adding much is advantageous as it helps in conserving the moisture and protects plants from weeds.

When the stems turn brown and dry, it’s the time to harvest. Generally, it takes 100 to 180 days to ripen your home grown Crown of Thorns.

I love the fall season. Some gardeners give up after September, because they think there’s nothing left to do. It is true that with the cooler weather and holidays upon us, there may not be much time left to enjoy your garden before winter.

But, don’t fret, fellow gardener: There is still time to do some bulb planting! In fact, most flower bulbs have to be planted in the fall, because they need a dormancy period time to become rooted before they can bloom big and boldly in the spring. Planting bulbs is very simple, and the great thing about ordering from Gurney’s catalog or website is that we ship our plants and bulbs to you at exactly the right planting time for your region and zone.

Stargazer Lily from Gurney's Seed & Nursery

Planting Bulbs

Bulbs are usually planted before the first hard frost. In colder northern climates, this will usually be October or early November; in warmer climates, December may be the best month. If Mother Nature isn’t providing your area with cool temperatures, you can do so yourself by prepping your bulbs in the refrigerator for 6-8 weeks. (See our shipping map)

When the time comes, plant your bulbs with the pointy end facing skyward at a depth that is twice as deep as the bulb is tall. When you’re planting just a few bulbs, the easiest way is to dig a series of holes, each hole large enough to accommodate four or five bulbs. If you’re planting en masse, you can either dig a trench (for a nice, long swath of blooms), or get a special gardening awl attachment for your power drill to dig each hole individually.

Bulb needs

After filling the holes, lay 2-3” of mulch (compost, straw or leaves). Mulch is especially helpful in cold or dry climates because it insulates the soil and maintains even soil moisture. Additionally, mulch inhibits weed growth and prevents soil from splashing onto flowers and foliage during watering or periods of rain.

Typically, bulbs do well in areas with partial to full sun. Soils should be well aerated and well drained, slightly acidic (pH 6-7), and cultivated to a depth of about 8-12”. I recommend adding decomposed organic material, as this will improve moisture retention.

During their growing or blooming seasons, give your bulbs a deep watering when natural rainfall is less than 1” per week. Most bulbs benefit from a fertilizer such as bonemeal.

And there you have it! For ease of planting and show stopping color, nothing beats flower bulbs. Click here to see Gurney’s huge selection of flower bulbs!

When foods are properly dried, they can’t support the growth of spoilage organisms like bacteria, yeast and molds. Well-dried vegetables have almost 90% of their water removed, creating an environment hostile to these spoilage organisms.

To Dry:

The best tomatoes to use for drying are meaty types such as paste tomatoes. Slice tomatoes into halves or thirds if large. If drying outdoors, place skin side down on a screen or tray in an enclosed screen house to keep insects and dirt off the produce. Outdoor drying will take a few days during warm breezy and dry weather. Bring tomatoes in at night to protect from dew. Hot but humid weather is not conducive to drying and it’s recommended to use an alternative method if the humidity is high. If using a commercial food dryer, follow those specific directions that are given with the unit. If using the oven, use the lowest setting possible to maintain a temperature below 65C (124F). Drying in an oven can take as little time as overnight. If the temperature cannot remain below 65C (145F), you should consider the other techniques mentioned for drying. Well dried tomatoes should be leathery but pliable. Store in glass or plastic jars with tight lids. At room temperatures of 20C (70F), tomatoes should store up to 3 months; at cooler temperatures, they can store for as long as 6-9 months.

To Use:

Pour an equal mix of vinegar and boiling water, or just boiling water, over the tomatoes and let stand from a few minutes to a half an hour until they are soft and chewy. Drain off water and cover with olive oil and garlic. Let them marinate in the refrigerator or room temperature for several hours prior to use. They’ll keep in the oil for about a month. Their concentrated flavor is delicious with pasta or antipasto.

Roll Up Your Sleeves!

It’s finally time to start growing again, and time to wake up those sleeping garden plots. Here are just a few suggestions to get you started:

• Do a maintenance check on the compost pile. Turn it, move it, use it!
• Remove protective coverings from roses and tender shrubs.
• Prepare your perennial beds by raking and mulching.
• Rake any leaves that may have been missed once snow fell. Add to the compost pile.
• Treat your lawn mower right by greasing it up, filling the gas tank, checking the spark plugs and sharpening the blades.
• Flush out your pipe lines by running your outside faucet. Inspect your garden hose for cracks and leaks and, if necessary, replace it.
• Check your rain spouts for leaves and debris that may clog in the summer. Clean out and add to the compost pile.
• If you put your lawn ornaments away for the winter, introduce them back to your landscape.
• Give your lawn furniture a good spraying with the hose to remove dirt and dust that has built up. Set it out in the sun to dry. If possible, launder seat cushions and covers.

Get Ready, Set, Grow!

After all that cleanup, now you’ve got to put something in the soil. It’s a great time to get started on your vegetable garden. Start some early crops, like lettuce and spinach, in a cold frame. Plants that take a long time to get to maturity, like mammoth pumpkins, should be started in peat pots. Prepare to plant other crops as the ground begins to warm and the danger of frost has passed.

First and foremost, asparagus is a hungry plant. Keep it well fed and it will remain happy. we recommend using a plant food that is specific to asparagus – like our Gurney’s® Asparagus Food. This is the basic maintenance requirement, along with mulching and weeding. A slow-release fertilizer will work great, adding nutrients as needed; apply it in the spring and again after harvest.

Also, you’ll want to check the makeup of your fertilizer to be sure your asparagus gets plenty of phosphorus and potassium. You can provide those nutrients by adding bonemeal and wood ash to the soil. Pellet fertilizers are fine, but make sure you combine them with organic matter. A top dressing of these materials after harvest and in the fall will help ensure good growth. Asparagus grows best in a sandy loam with a pH between 6.0 and 7.0.

After harvest and through the fall, leave the plant alone. Let them just do what asparagus do naturally! If your asparagus turns yellow, don’t worry, that’s normal. Even as it yellows, the foliage is still feeding the plant, so don’t cut it back until it totally dies back. At that point, usually in early winter, remove all remaining foliage. This will protect your plant from pests and disease.

And speaking of pests, the most common asparagus pest is the appropriately named “asparagus beetle.” Cutting the foliage back in the winter should keep the buggers away, but if not, you can always pick them off and drop them in soapy water to kill them.

That about covers asparagus care. Just remember the best protection against pests and disease is to keep your plants healthy and strong through feeding, weeding and mulching!

Hardening off takes two weeks, and entails gradually exposing your tender seedlings to the elements until they can be transplanted and live outside comfortably.

Beginning the Process

Start the hardening-off process two weeks before the seed’s outside planting date, which is dependent on the hardiness of the plant and the last frost date in your area. Once you’ve determine the date, begin by setting your seeds outside for a couple hours during the day in an area that’s shielded form sun and wind. Direct sun is a definite no-no for young seedlings at this stage, because it will burn the tender leaves. Remember to bring your seedlings in at night. Over the following days, you may increase the time your plants go outside, but do so gradually.

Your Seedlings are Almost Ready

After a few days of gradual and protected outside exposure, you can step up your efforts a notch. Leave your plants out longer and put them in sunnier, cooler, and windier spots. Although some evidence suggests that tomatoes respond well to fertilization at this point, generally it’s not a good idea to feed or overwater your plants right now – remember, you’re trying to toughen them up!

Ready, Set, Grow!

After two weeks of increasing exposure, it’s time to plant them for good. Water the ground thoroughly, and dig a hole just a few inches deeper than the pot in which your seedlings are currently residing. Holding your seedling by the stem, place the seedling in the hole and cover it gently with soil. Once the hole is filled, create a depression around the rim of the plant where water can collect. Be sure to water frequently and to fertilize after this final step. If your weather turns nasty, you can protect your seeds with sun shields, wind blocks, or Gurney’s Tunlcover™ Plant Protector cold covers.

If you’ve never liked spinach, chances are you haven’t eaten it fresh from the garden. Garden-grown spinach is mild, tender and totally delicious! Use it in salads or steam lightly just to wilt. Either way, spinach supplies you with plenty of vision-enhancing vitamin A. Cooked or raw, the dark green leaves of spinach are a super source of vitamins, minerals and cancer-fighting compounds; a healthful addition to any of your favorite recipes. Plus, spinach is one of the most nutrient-dense, low-calorie foods you can grow!

Perennial vegetables are few and far between, so when you find one that looks good in your garden, tastes great on your plate and is one of the healthiest foods you can eat, you’ve found yourself a must-have crop. And you don’t have to look any further than asparagus! It’s one of the healthiest vegetables you can have in your diet because it’s rich in antioxidants and nutrients. The health benefits of asparagus are plenty. It contains properties that: protect against cancer, heart disease, aging, inflammation, fungi, viruses, birth defects, osteoporosis, arthritis, hair loss and depression; detoxify the body; and act as an aphrodisiac. There are tons of great asparagus recipes out there, but it may just be best on its own with a little butter melted over top of it.

With homegrown veggies this good, you might even be able to convince your own children or grandchildren to give them a try!

On a Feeding Schedule

Now that the plant has sprouted and gone through the food supply provided by the seed itself, you’re responsible for feeding the burgeoning baby plant. You should feed your seedlings one-quarter strength plant food. If the solution is too strong, it will burn the baby plant. Use room temperature water when you are watering your plant.

After the little plants have formed their second set of real leaves, they are ready to be transplanted into bigger pots. Dislodge the soil using a fork or pencil and gently lift the plant out of the pot, then dangle the plant over its new pot and sprinkle the roots with soil. Once your seedlings have grown a few more inches, they’ll be ready to face the great outdoors. You have to introduce them slowly, however, through a process called hardening off. We’ll go over this process in our next blog post!

Gurney’s Seed Starting Kit

Looking for an easier way to start seeds? I’m really excited about our new Seed Starting Kit. We’ve assembled the absolute best way to start seeds. You’ll get healthy and hearty plants every time! The best part is it’s clean…no fussing with messy potting soil or Dixie cups.

Our Seed Starting Kit allows you to quickly, easily and successfully start all kinds of seeds. Each kit contains everything you need for fast germination and vital root growth. The soil-less grow plugs are made of natural, biodegradable materials so that each plug can be directly transplanted into the garden greatly reducing transplant shock. Each grow plug contains beneficial bacteria to aid in maximum seed germination.

The lightweight 55-cell growing tray wraps each grow plug in warmth and floats them in the water-filled reservoir tray, allowing each seed to get the perfect water-to-air ratio. The humidity dome holds in the warmth and moisture, ensuring early and uniform seed germination

I recently had the opportunity to give the Seed Starting Kit a try, and let me tell you, it works! This is by far the easiest method I have ever used. It allows me to do more – and easily. Give it a try today!

To sprout, most seeds prefer a temperature between 70 and 85 degrees (for specific temperatures, see the back of your seed packet). Seeds can be kept in any place that offers warmth. Windowsills can also work, but be sure to check them for drafts that could potentially end your seedling’s short life. You can check by running a lighter or candle along your windowsills; if the light flickers or goes out, you know you’ve got a serious draft. If your windowsills prove to be too drafty, you can use artificial lights. The heat provided by an ordinary shop light offers plenty of warmth for germinating seeds. Once you’ve found a cozy spot for your seeds, it’s time to cover them with plastic (to keep in moisture) and wait for them to send their shoots above the soil line.

They’re Alive!

Immediately following your first sprouts, remove the plastic covering to get essential oxygen to the young’uns. These sprouts are not “true leaves”; they’re cotyledons, which existed within the seed and fed your plant during germination. You’re on the right track; true leaves will appear soon. Remember, even though they’ve sprouted, your seeds still need temperatures in the 60-to-80-degree range to ensure proper growth. Seeds also need light at this stage. If you’re growing with natural light, make sure the containers are raised a little above the sill to minimize the “stretching” seedlings can experience in their efforts to get enough light, and turn then regularly to keep them from growing lopsided.

Artificial light provided by fluorescent shop tubes or grow lights (household incandescent lights don’t offer the right light spectrum for plants) work best, just make sure they offer a combination of warm white and cool white light. Artificial light should be kept 1 – 4” above your seedlings’ tops. Pulley systems work especially well, because you can adjust the lights as the seedlings grow. Seedlings need roughly 16 hours of exposure daily; using a timer on the lights is the easiest way to achieve this. Some gardeners leave the lights on continuously and say their plants have suffered no ill affects. The choice is yours; consult your seed packet for lighting instructions.

Let’s Get Started

Once you’ve found the right seed varieties for you, you’ll need to determine the proper start date. Typically, seeds are started indoors 8 to 10 weeks before the last frost.

Get your seedlings off to a good start by using the right growing medium. A perfect growing mix is very light and holds moisture well. Avoid using potting soil, which becomes too dense after a few waterings and doesn’t allow good air and water circulation. Additionally, regular potting soil can introduce bacteria to a young seed, resulting in its death. If you don’t want to buy a mix, you can create your own by combining 2 parts peat or sphagnum moss with 1 part perlite and 1 part vermiculate. This will not have the nutrients usually included in a commercial mix, however.

Where to Start Your Seeds

The first container for your seeds should be no more than three inches deep and provide good drainage. If you don’t want to buy containers specifically designed for starting seeds, you’ll need to create your own: empty egg cartons, cut-off milk cartons, or deep-sided disposable aluminum pans work fine. Make sure you punch drainage holes in the bottom.

Planting Your Seeds

The general rule of thumb is to plant seeds four times as deep as the seed is wide. Fine seeds, such as petunia seeds, should be sprinkled on top of the medium but not covered. When using individual containers, plant more than one seed in each cell; you’ll need extras since you seldom get 100% germination. If you’re using flats, space seeds a half inch apart only if they’ll be transplanted into a separate pot following germination. If they’re going to stay in the flat until they head outside, space the seed one to two inches apart. Label your seeds, because most seedlings look alike.

Watering Your Seeds

Once they’re planting, you won’t have to worry about feeding your little guys at first. Seeds contain their own food supply packaged neatly within their shells. Make sure you keep them mist, since most seeds absorb water and use it to bust through their shells. Daily checkups are necessary at this point. To water, you can either use a spray bottle, or set up a bottom watering system (this way, seeds can take as much water as they need.) If you choose a bottom watering system, it’s important to avoid letting your pots sit in a pool of water; this can lead to a moldy pot and a dead seed.