Growing Gourds

What You Need to Know

Some tips on growing gourds, from germinating the seeds to fertilizing the crop to tips on getting more fruit per vine to harvest time.  From beginning to end we want you to have a successful crop.

• Garden Tillers
  
  it is important to a good garden tillers in your garden before planting your seeds, especially if you grew gourds last year. This will kill the majority of the cucumber beetles from exposure.
• What Gourd to Grow in Your Area
  
  Every area of the country is different. Large kettle gourds cannot grow in Alaska, Gourds are warm weather vines and therefore need a warmer growing season. Here are some guidelines to help you decide what gourds might grow in your area.
• Seed Germination
  
  seed germination: If you are growing gourds, here is how to get your gourd seeds started. If you wish to pre-germinate your seeds, here are some tips on how to get successful seen germination.

Once you have gourds vining, you want to encourage fruiting of the vine, and once the fruiting has begun you want to increase the fruit on your vine.  For a thorough coverage of how and when to prune your gourd vines, read The Gourd Report #2