Sounds like you have the "soft shell" variety of gourds. If they have yellow flowers they are for sure soft shell. They produce very colorful small gourds of all kinds of shapes. The only bad thing about them is that they only keep for a few months after harvest and then start to rot. Once in a while you can get one or two to dry but they loose all color when they do. They are great climers and if you already have a trellis I would suggest trying to grab those rascals who are headed for your yard and get them started on your trellis. They will grow over each other and get along quite well. The vines of the hard shell variety of gourds will easily grow to 30 or 40 ft. I don't believe the soft shells grow as long. If you get 3 or 4 inches of rain a month I don't believe you would need to water them. Watch the leaves, and if they start to droop all day long, then they will need watered. If your soil is decent, don't believe you'll need additional fertilizer. Sometimes that just promotes more vine growth but not necessarily more gourds. Next year try some hard shell gourds like bird house or apple gourds but be careful. They are very addictive!!! Keep the web posted on how they are doing. Good luck. Gene

looser is right about the whirlpool, bosch and lg probably all being fine machines, and I'll add in there maybe the ge too... First you need to decide what you want the machine to clean and what features you think you want.... do you want a heater??? do you want to stack them??? do you want pedestals??? do you want color??? how much 'control' do you want over wash and rinse temps??? (be prepared to lose some!) are you prepared to switch to a HE soap product??? are you prepared for longer wash times? do you need/want to 'sanitize' any of your laundry??? Think about all this, adn there is probably more :-P then go out and touch and feel the different models... when I looked ge didn't have a heater... I wanted one... they were out... lg had just released theirs... and I didn't want them (just me personally... didn't look at them hard... LG??? no.... I guess it's inbred in me... LG historically made cheap kitchen appliances... I didn't want to look.... I ended up looking at Whirlpoo and Bosch... truthfully, it really depended on which store you were in as to who said one was better than the other... so I decided they were a toos up... but I personally liked the loof and feel of the bosch better... liked the door assembly and the detergent opening (not drawer) better.... didn't help that almost every floor model whirlpool we saw had a broken drawer:-) Service... I bought through Lowes... got the extended coverage... have had one service call that turned into 2 as they had to order a part to come in... but it was painless as my machine still worked... just sometimes it dind't fuly spin out on a regular was setting, so I'd have to set the dial to spin and then manually spin out the load until the guy came back.... I persanoally think it is VERY important to go out and touch and feel these machines... oh yeah, FWIW... Idid consider the miele... but didn't want to deal with then then need for 220 electric when I didn't have it... plus I couldn't justify the cost difference...

mysteryclock I just had my Axxis dryer fixed once and for all. What an ordeal. Really would have been easy if I got the right repairman right off the bat. I've been all over this forum trying to figure out what has been up with my machine. I knew it wasn't right. It just took forever to dry and then eventually i kept getting this huge puddle of water under the machine after a while. It was drying sometimes and acting funny at others. Ultimately after 4 service calls and replacing all the parts on the entire dryer, it turned out to be the heater. For anyone with a condensation dryer, i cannot stress this enough- get your machine checked once in a while. I had 4 blissful years with it and it was telling me gently that something was wrong by slowly wigging out. If i would have had it looked at when it was just acting weird, I would have had to replace far less! I got a GREAT Bosch tech, who i would highly recommend to anyone in the LA/Pasadena area. It took me a while to find him but he fixed the problem in less than an hour once he diagnosed it. If anyone wants to have their Bosch or other German appliance fixed, call Ricky at Appliance Masters. I've heard some of their techs are not so hot. This guy was a senior tech and he was the best. After all the drama with this machine and service call after service call, i'd say this guy has a halo and angel wings! He fixed it in less than a hour once the parts were ordered. These high end German appliances are great unless something is off. I have had probably 5 repairmen with my various German appliances in the last 6 months. All of the good ones said the same thing- great appliances unless you are having a problem with them. I guess the moral of the story is- it's better to pay a bit to maintain and get check ups once in a while rather than wait until the machine goes up in flames or in my case out in a puddle of vaguely warm water. All it needed was a new heater, not a complete overhaul, which i wound up with anyway. In my house full of Gaggenau, Liebherr and Bosch, call me converted. I'm going to get these insanely expensive appliances looked at frequently so they stay calibrated. It seems to make all the difference in the world. I'm humbled and feel kind of bad that this was such a colossal headache. I still love my washer and dryer. It's the best purchase I've made, with a close second being the Gaggenau dishwasher. I love me some German appliances!!

Hi Eric...it's difficult out there, isn't it. I'm still using my Whirlpool top loader of 15 years but if I were to forced to buy a new washer tomorrow, first I would buy from a mom & pop type of store. They are more apt to stand behind their product after the sale and keep you happy (they can't afford bad word of mouth). From my research the Korean machines (like LG, Samsung etc.) are harder to get service/parts for and therefore times for repairs may take a longer time. I've heard of not so great customer service when issues arise with the Korean machines. The Korean machines do look very sleek, I'll give them that. It seems that Whirlpool and Electrolux/Frigidaire have been at this (laundry) business the longest and have vested more time and research at making their machines better. They have better distribution with parts and service and therefore better repair times. Frigidaire seems to have the fastest cycle times but remember adding or subtracting options (extra rinse, low soil level etc.) will alter wash times. Most new front load washers have a pretty substantial tub size so that shouldn't be an issue no matter what you choose. You will get more cycle choices with any new front loader washer and dryer. You may want a "Bulky" cycle for comforters or a "Hand Wash" for extremely delicate items or a "Soak" cycle for really dirty items. The "Steam" cycle is more important in the washer than the dryer. Steam helps with really stubborn stains or to kill bacteria or allergens. I wouldn't say you need it but it may come in handy now and then. The thing with a "Steam" cycle is it can add a substantial amount of time to the cycle. If the machine has a "Sanitary" cycle then you really don't need a Steam cycle. Most people hardly even us the Steam cycle if they have one. As far as steam in the dryer, it's only good for relaxing wrinkles or freshening up clothes. (you can mimic this by throwing a damp towel in with already dried clothes you wish to freshen up). If you don't mind a miss matched set you can get yourself a standard Whirlpool dryer, the type with the "hamper" style door (door that opens down, not to the side). Those are very much still a very reliable machine. Or get the matching washer & dryer set and get the basic dryer. I would pay more for the washer with more features than the dryer. The dryer just needs to tumble clothes with a variety of heat settings (low, medium, high and or medium high, medium low etc.). If you look at Electrolux/Frigidaire know that Electrolux offers more higher end machines with more bells, whistles, features, cycles, higher top spin speed, larger drum and Frigidaire's are more economical (less features, slower top spin speed, less cycles, smaller drum). Do a side by side comparison of Whirlpool and Electrolux and Frigidaire and see if they offer features you want or don't want. I'm sure you'll get some other advice here and will make for some good reading. Best of luck. Keep us informed of what you decide.