While I am not fond of gardening, I do have a soft spot in my heart for gourd plants. I love the fact that they can grow up to foot a day, which makes them great for the preschool crowd. We plant a few by a section of chain-link fence and then take note of their progress. (They also disguise the ugliness of the fence.)
This year we planted bottleneck gourds instead of the mini-pumpkin type, and it’s been cool. A few of them have grown to a respectable size with minimal damage, which is a miracle considering the dozens of little hands that paw at them daily.
On the playground we also have a small redbud tree that didn’t survive the winter. One of the teachers turned it into an art piece and painted the top purple, which cracks me up. As I watched the gourd plant make its way to the end of the fence, it looked like it needed more room, and wouldn’t it be cool if we could get it over to the tree?
Hmmmmmmm……
Do I have a couple of old hula hoops?
Check.
Zip ties?
Check.
It’s been growing for almost a week, and I think it’s coming along quite nicely.
Hee hee! The best part was when we were putting it together, every so often I would get the little toddlers to cheer, “Hooray for zip ties!” Gotta start them early, y’know.