Harvesting Gourds

It dropped 5 degrees in 30 minutes here from 6:50 p.m. to 7:20 p.m. What a shock. We are definitely expecting frost again tonight. I have my remaining dahlias covered because Gail wants flowers for Thanksgiving dinner, and a Board meeting of her art society which are meeting here. My tropicals are indoors.

It seems to me that I have seen fields of pumpkins with the leaves all frozen, so I would be tempted to leave them, unless they are already ripe.

My 2 cents…..

-- jroot

Gourds can stay on the vine all winter long!
Frost will not bother the mature ones!
I am leaving mine in the hope that they are protected enough by the leaves and the building that they are climbing onto and that they will keep on maturing!:-) ????

-- Eklectic, Follow my Bliss, South East Ontario 5a

well, I left them.
We’ll just have to see, now.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

I used to pick mine and let them dry in the basement.I found there were less soft spots that way.

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

Well, mine are okay this morning, the frost did not touch them at all!
Actually, even though it was below zero when we got up, nothing was touched! :-)

-- Eklectic, Follow my Bliss, South East Ontario 5a

our backyard is white with frost.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

I actually had to scrape off my windshield this morning.It was 31 degrees out. yuck. :-(

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

We had frost on the grass yesterday morning (Monday), but today we seem warmer than you guys … I believe we only hit the high 40’s last night/low 50’s. And they say we have a warm front moving in … could get up to 70 by the weekend … guess time will tell … my walk this morning was really pleasant.

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

I’ve got mine stuck on top of the dog run fence drying out. They’re in direct sun and don’t stay damp at all.

Ahhh… Still in the 80s here… ;)

-- Planting Daylilies in Kentucky, zone 6b

rub it in!!!!

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Most unexpectedly, we had a frost last night. Today, it is wonderful – a nice 18C / 65F degrees.

-- jroot

a GORGEOUS weekend we are about to have
Pretty exciting

and now.. back to my long-necked gourds.
Ok. TIP: when you have a giant gourd in your hands and you are cautiously carrying the piece of fragility so that the bottom bulb won’t snap off.. .. umm… well, be careful of the top section which is long and heavy as well.
Yes, one of my treasured gourds snapped in two.. about a third of the neck lost its balance and .. crashed.

The other big gourd made it safely to the gazebo for drying and I found that I didn’t know how to support it properly so that the neck didn’t snap off as well.. whether it was laying down or standing up. I supported it as best I could while still setting it out to dry and I’m crossing my fingers

So. the rest of my gourds are going to dry on the vine, supported naturally.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

I am sending my best wishes for a well dried gourd. I’d cross my fingers for you , but I need them to make my pies for Sunday. LOL

-- jroot

lol ok you don’t have to cross your fingers lol

I do hope I get at least one good gourd out of this. They are SO cool

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)