seeking info on growing gourds from saved seed

The wife likes to buy small gourds for fall decorating and suggested to me recently that she would like it if I grew some in the veggie garden.

Is there any reason I couldn't take the seeds from the ornamental gourds we are now using as decorations and plant them?

I did do some reading and it said it was unlikely that the seeds would produce a similar looking gourd, but I can't say I really care as we aren't too particular as to the exact variety.

I don't have all that long of a growing season and I know that some gourds will be ready in 90 days, but others much longer. I am going to assume that since the gourds we have came from a local mom and pop store that sells mostly their own produce that these varieties will grow well here.

So anyone done this that can give me an idea of what to expect? If the gourds are small can I expect their offspring to be small or the general shape to be the same or is it even more random than that? Also, is there an optimal time to harvest the seed or should I just assume they are fine to harvest now? Could I just leaves the gourds intact until spring and remove the seeds then and plant or do they require any drying or chilling or any other tactics?

Your gourd needs to be dry and the seeds need to rattle inside of it. If this is the case, then you can cut a hole, or just break the gourd to get the seeds. Sometimes, people varnish inmature gourds to keep the pretty colors more vibrant....thus making it harder for them to dry. Seeds can be viable in some inmature gourds....but the percentage that will sprout is low.

As far as to what to expect, you will get a combination of all of the parents of your gourds....plus the crosses that occured during the growing season this year. If your gourds had small parents, then, most of them should be small too. You can get a herd of gourds that look nothing like what you planted, but most should be interesting and pretty.

If you find one, that you really like, don't count on being able to grow it next season though....it can take as much as 5 to 10 years to stabilize cross pollinated seed.

That's not an entirely bad thing....remember what Forrest Gump said...'Life is like a box of chocolates...you never know what you'll get"

Wow! I was just about to post the same question. Thanks for beating me to it.