Birdhouse gourds were another first in our 20020 garden. I had been planning to plant them in the garden when I ordered the seeds back in 2008(!), but then SQUIRREL! When I planted the seeds last year I was concerned about the germination rate for 12 year old seeds, so I planted planted 4 gourd seeds on March 21, and by March 30 one of the seedlings was peeking out of the dirt. Ultimately all of the seeds germinated, but one waited until the late in the summer to do so. 🤷♀️ So I’d call 100% germination by seed that is a dozen years old is pretty good.
Before long the birdhouse gourds had taken over the trellis & I even trained it across to the trellis over the adjacent box. I’m too lazy to go recount, but we got over 20 gourds off the 3 plants (cuz the late bloomer was too late to produce in fruit). In hindsight it was a mistake to plant both birdhouse gourds & luffa in the same 42″ X 84″ beds. I left the gourds on the trellises to dry, because I had read that was best. I did have one that fell off the stem before completely drying out, and I set it on a side table. It got kinda moldy on the bottom where the moisture was wicking out of the gourd. So if you cut them from the vine be sure to hang them somewhere to dry in a suspended state (i.e. on a cattle panel or some sort of mesh.)
Birdhouse gourds have lovely, delicate looking white flowers which make a contrast in the garden where most of plants had yellow flowers. The coolest thing about these gourds is how differently the fruits are shaped. Some looked like I had imagined they would & others looked like maracas, while others were pear shaped. My original goal with planting the gourds was to turn them into birdhouses. I still hope to do that, but thus far I haven’t been too motivated to do that. I may see if I can convince my son that it would be a good money making venture for him.
If I plant birdhouse gourds again in 2021, I’ll probably only plant 1 or 2 at most, and I’ll place them somewhere they have LOTS of room to spread out.
Growing Instructions
If this is your first year growing birdhouse, be sure you have a trellis or some sort of structure it can climb. In 2020 I used cattle panels folded in half & poked into the ground, and that worked really well for them, but they took off! They may need a bigger space than what I had allocated to them.
Sow seeds outdoors after the danger of frost has passed. If you’re growing in a traditional garden place them in 12″ diameter hills. Space hills 6′ apart in all directions. In short season areas, grow from transplants started indoors 8 weeks in advance. Gourds grow well on fences or garden trellises. I use the square foot garden method of growing & the seeds should be sown 1 seed per 2 squares. (In 2020 I planted one per square to adjust for potential low germination, and then I never thinned out the extras. oops!)
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