Pat, About knots in dipper gourds. Have you ever grown a dipper on a fence or trellis and found that ones growing on lower vines touch the ground and start bending? Well tying knots is something like that, only you bring the ground to the gourd. I read this in a book somewhere, don't remember which book. But basically these are the directions. When the gourd is still young and soft - handle about a couple inches long - tie a sling around the base of the dipper and connect it to the fence or trellis. Every couple days go out and tie the sling higher. This will gradually bring the base up higher. When you have the base up to where you can slip it around the handle, then slip it around the handle and remove the sling. Gravity will take over then and pull the knot tighter. I have seen gourds with long handles with two knots tied on them. So far, I haven't had gourds with long enough handles to do this, but I bought extra long handle gourd seeds this year at the Ohio gourd show and I might give that a whirl. Then when my friends show me there knot herb garden I'll show them my knot gourd garden. :) One thing the book did say is that you will probably screw up about half the time the first time you try the knot thing. This I found out to be very true. :) So, if you break the gourd, keep trying until you get the hang of it. (no pun intended) Let me know if you try this and how you do. Lillian Kepp thekepps@bright.net