Lagenaria siceraria

The Canteen gourd is one of many gourds in the family of the African Gourd Melon. This variety is shaped like a curling rock: rounded and flattened. This tall vining plant makes beautiful white gourd flowers as it grows, and likes to be trellised upwards. In our climate, the fruit are harvested when the stems start to brown, or before the first frost.

I am adapting this variety to our shorter season. 

Hard-shelled gourds, a type of tropical squash,  is a very versatile and fun plant to grow in your garden. Hard-shelled gourds have been cultivated for over 9,000 years ! They were the first non-food plant grown on a large scale, transformed into bowls, drinking vessels, utensils, musical instruments, and much more. These gourds are commonly used to make musical instruments. I’ve turned them into bowls, planters, and I’m excited to keep on exploring the creative possibilities. There is so much history associated with gourds and their cultural importance all over the world, I highly recommend reading up on it, it’s fascinating.

120 days to maturity. 

10 seeds per pack. 

Seed starting:

Start indoors 3 to 4 weeks before last frost. Sow one inch deep - they like warm soil to germinate. Transplant outside once the soil is warmed, after all danger of frost. You can also directly seed them in your garden once the soil is warm. They will not tolerate frost. Space plants 5ft apart for vining types, and 3 ft apart for bush types.