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deep_south_gardener

Gourd seeds

hey ya'll. this is my first year growing gourds. I planted birdhouse gourds this spring. We had a drought this summer and most of the veggie garden died. I do have about a dozen gourds still on the vine and we just recently started to get some rain so I'm thinking I might just get a few to make into birdhouses. Where do ya'll get seeds from? and what is your favorite kind of gourd and what kind of craft do you make with them? Thanks

Brenda

Comments (9)

  • melinda155
    12 years ago

    Hey Brenda,
    I like 'em all...lol I've bought, traded and people have just given them to me... What are you looking for? being that you're in the south, you should get bigger and better ones than i can plant up here upstate NY.. our growing season is short...
    I think there's a trader forum here just for gourds...

    I just put up a couple of posts of my gourd art... one is bracelet made from a snake gourd. on post was about spinner gourds, but i think it went to page two already, i made ornaments and the 3rd post i sent in was egg gourds...
    check them out... i have more, but i didn't think anyone wanted to see them...
    I love gourds...
    I started an Etsy page...under the name gourdsilly...still working on it.
    melinda

  • halecards
    12 years ago

    I'm growing bird house gourds, apple gourds, and speckled swan gourds. I saved all my seeds but I did get some bird house gourd seeds from burbee seeds. Everythings growing nicely now, wish you luck with yours!

  • weirdtrev
    12 years ago

    This year my favorite gourd is the extra long handled dipper gourds! I have some hanging and some on the ground that are curling into fun shapes. So far I have 15 from two hills. Some of the hanging ones are over 5 feet and still growing, I have no plans for crafts with them yet, but they will make great fall decorations for sure. I almost always get my gourd seeds from gourds that I've purchased in the fall. I like suprises, and most of the time the gourds grown are nearly identical to what I collected the seed from. If I like the gourd that grows a lot I hand pollinate so that I can save the seeds.

  • missingtheobvious
    12 years ago

    Fedco gives a very generous number of seeds; I don't remember how many varieties they have. Baker Creek has a good selection; so does Sand Hill Preservation Center (listed in two places in their catalog, Gourds and Cucurbits, just to be confusing).

    http://www.fedcoseeds.com/seeds.htm
    http://www.sandhillpreservation.com/catalog/seed_menu.html
    http://www.rareseeds.com

    I've also bought some from Johnny's Selected Seeds and Pinetree Gardens; don't remember how many varieties they have.

  • behlgarden
    12 years ago

    I got my seeds from seedsofindia.com, they recently got seeds for 4' long gourd called Bhim bottle gourd. I got good getmination but darn rabbits eat away the seedlings within few day of germination.

  • Gourd_King
    12 years ago

    I get mine through various seed houses and via trading.. The last 3 seasons I've reclaimed all my seeds from my own cross pollinated stocks.. I do birdhouse,snake,alligator, bushel,and long handled dippers.. Now that they've all crossed their kinda just "wacky gourds" I basically save my seeds in 2 styles.. "hangers" (anything small enough to hang on a trellis) and "grounders" (too big to hang on my trellises) and of course I've had MANY MANY mishaps with surprise crosses.

  • Gourd_King
    12 years ago

    Yeah I should have several that "should" be some "long gators" gourds ( when you have 300+ gourds in the outbuilding ya gotta go dig around abit. But, I'll get to looking. If I find one, I'll crack it open and we'll do a seed exchange or something. Just be warned, all my gourds grow within 100yds of each other. I do hand pollinate and tag my crosses, but I don't seal the flowers. So no promises. LOL