New to Gourds

I have a gourd plant that came up as a volunteer in my mulch pile. They are pretty dark green and yellow gourds from last fall's ornamentals. When do I pick them and what do I do with them until I want to use them this fall? I usually wash any gourds in a clorox and water solution as I was told it would prolong their life after bringing them home from the farm, but other than refrigerating now, what else should I do with them?

The best thing is to leave them in the field until the vines die;;;What kind are they? Do you have a picture? I Love gourds! Jo

Thanks. I guess I jumped the gun a bit and picked a few of them, but there are lots more left that I will leave on the vine. Here are 3 of the ones I picked to give you an idea of the variety. I realized I needed something for scale and my lens cap was all I had handy.

OH....those are the kind you buy in the grocery store in the fall....they will dry and be a buff color...

I had some I bought and took pictures of them before they dried...then later I looked at the pictures to tryto duplicate painting them back to the original colors...they are still sitting here as a fall arrangement in a basket. Jo

Hi, I buy birdhouse gourds here in Somersest and decorate them for the birds.
Here are pictures of some of the ones I've done. I am working on more right now and trying to find a place to sell them here in Somerset. I spent the last year in Ventura, Calif and sold everyone I did.

My Gourmet' Gourders had their monthly meeting this week and member Edna brought this to show us what she had been working on.....OK....the Wicked Old Witch of the WEST is ME. Edna does lovely work. Jo

Lovely! I've gotten a snake gourd and am going to try and paint it to look like a Python.

One of the "girls" had painted a rattle snake for her son....it was great. Jo

Love your birdhouses, Marti! And you look like a 'good witch', Jo. There is a big gourd show next weekend about 35-40 miles from here but we will miss it this year. Our neighbor and his wife always are there. She paints some beautiful pieces and they go all over the country to shows.