Pampered vs. Wild

So you know about me and gourds, right?

How I pursue them every growing season? To my own embarrassment and sad failure? 

This year, after nursing the gourd vines through a drought and spraying 

the fuzz right off their mildewy leaves ...

I was able to harvest a few tiny gourds!

This few was all that came from the vines I kept in a pot, nearby, so I could water adequately and add sweet talk (begging) to their diet. Not a very good showing, but these vines had issues, so I was happy with these few adorable, wee spinner gourds.

I put two vines out in the flower beds, pairing them with the 

zinnias which I figured were sturdy enough to bear almost anything I threw their way. 

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It's a teacher thing, right? 

Seating the naughty child next to the steady one, 

hoping they will balance one another out?

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ANYway, I only checked those two vines occasionally - as often as I went out to cut zinnias. They seemed to be getting along famously, with less water and less attention than the spoiled potted vines. The stalks of the zinnias made climbing posts and I didn't see the same pinched stem problem out there in the beds that was happening with the potted gourds.

The yield from those less cared for vines ended up being almost double that of the other!

And check out that big fatty white gourd in the back of the photo - what the heck? 

That was the ONLY fruit from one of the vines. 

So weird!

And fun! I love experimenting in the garden!