Summary:  This fast growing annual, also known as a Bottle Gourd, produces attractive fruits that when dried can become handsome and functional bird houses or used in art and craft projects. Plants are fun and easy to grow.
When and where to plant:  Select sunny location with well drained soil and plant outdoors after soil warms. In short season areas, start indoors 3-4 weeks earlier. Cultivate and enrich with vegetable food and organic matter. Firm soil over the seeds and keep moist.
Care: Allow fruit to stay on the vine as long as possible. After frost let fruit turn from green to brown. Allow it to dry outdoors as long as it does not get sunburned. When sunburn or rot threatens, pick fruit, leaving a little stem, and take into shady, dry spot. Don't bruise or injure. Don't let curing gourds touch. When fully dry design your own bird house.