Carol, IMHO I think that the fresher the seed the higher the germination rate. I have put seeds directly into water from the pod..and I have let them sit for a few days. All seem to germinate fairly well. Now earlier, I did a cross of Limona x Shirley May and soaked about 15 seeds immediately..most of them germinated just fine.. about 3 weeks later I found a handful more of this cross and decided to soak them and they aren't doing well at all. I think I only got about 2 seeds to germinate out of about 15 seeds in the second batch. And on the other hand, I selfed my father's Samba and immediately soaked about 10 seeds at his house..they are doing fine. I brought the rest of the seeds home and wasn't going to do anything with them and then decided to try about 7 or 8 of them. At least 3 weeks later I soaked them and they immediately germinated..some seeds are surely more vigirous than others.. I know in the past Cindee found some seeds that she had forgotten about for about a year and when she tried to germinate them they did well so who knows..the fresher the seed the better I would say but I'm sure others out there have had more experience than I have..I'm not really sure whether drying for a few day is necessary or not.. Donna

I cut open the pods, remove the seeds and membrane, place on a paper towel in a casserole dish place on top of fridge and air dry for at least three weeks before bagging them. You can label the paper towel with the seed type, then add more layers of towels with various seeds. I've read if there is still moisture in the seeds they can be damaged when freezing, so I just place mine in a dark cupboard (I like my beer extra cold so sometimes stuff freezes in the fridge).

Gourds that have grown to maturity will easily spend the winter outside, stored in a sheltered, dry spot...it doesn't matter if they freeze. The outside dries to a hard shell and will last almost indefinitely. I have several I have left outside, in the garden, for YEARS as an experiment, to see how long they would last. I come across them as I tend the garden every spring and kick them to another part of the garden. :-) The problem is....gourds are very much a hot weather fruit and require a long growing season to truly mature to the stage where they will successfully cure to a hard shell after being picked. I live in SW Ontario near Sarnia and have grown gourds for years. Even with our longer, milder summer, I still have to plan my gourd growing carefully, to get gourds that mature on the vine before the cold weather comes and the vine dies off. I start gourd seeds early and grow them indoors under lights or in the greenhouse to get them to a nice size plant before the last frost date is past and it safe to plant them outdoors. I "harden them off" before planting outdoors. I take old 2 gallon plastic nursery pots and cut the bottom out, then place one around each gourd plant. It protects the young plant from the wind for a while and also creates a nice warm microclimate for the plant until it becomes more of a vine and starts to climb out of the enclosure. Then I remove them. So...yes, you can put your gourds out into a nonheated shed for the winter. Having some mold grow on the shell is normal and can be cleaned off later. You REALLY don't want that mold in your house anyway! I'm sorry to say the ones that have gone soft are starting to rot and won't get a hard shell....time to throw them in the compost pile. Those ones didn't get mature enough on the vine before being picked. I hope you get some that are successful!

With only two of us, it takes a while to get a load of towels and washcloths together. I picked up a smallish steel white enameled hamper/wastecan that has two rounded decorative rubber bands, one at the bottom, one at the top next to the rolled steel rim. It is rather old-fashioned looking, and you would expect it to say its purpose in fancy print on it, like, "Laundry" If the washcloth is still wet, I either hang it from a towel rack until it is dry, or hang it on the side of the can.