Volunteers VS Planned: Gourds

I prepped a nice deep rich bed for gourds a couple years back and successfully planted it in 2010 and 2011. The yield was decent (birdhouse in 2010, luffa in 2011). Volunteer tommy toes hijacked the bed in 2012, so no gourds were planted (besides I still had a surplus of both types).

Last winter I spilled luffa seeds in a stack of rocks and couldn’t recover them right away. By the time the rocks were moved and used, most of the seeds had been obscured or covered by leaf litter and mulch. Well, they sprouted.

And sprouted.

And grew.

And grew…

And grew…..

The vines along the ground rooted at every leaf node and became uber-zombie-vines, able to absorb nutrients and water at a significantly higher rate vs being on the fence in previous years. So basically I hatched gourd kudzu, which was ok since it choked out 99% of the weeds that would have sprouted in the area they covered.

These vines are finally in decline and I’m getting a glimpse of their production for the first time now. Over the 2nd half of the season, I had harvested smaller gourds when visible (zucchini substitute) but knew more were out of sight/reach below the large leaves.

Understatement.

Sampling of what was underneath:

35 or 40 feet from where the vines sprouted, they escaped and encroached onto the fence and tree on my property line:

Lesson learned (again): Sometimes all the work we do to prep soil and pamper our plants is a waste or even to the plants’ detriment.

As they say, “Nature finds a way”.