Lagenaria "Birdhouse bottle" (Calebass)

What is its attractive feature?
First of all, it is unpretentious - this cucumber gets along well in a community with other plants and trees:
planted under an apple tree, it rises to its very top;
planted near a fence, it twines around it with luxurious greenery and enchants with large, pale cream flowers, beautiful as a baby's smile...
The flowers typically bloom in the evening and droop by morning. Placed indoors, it quickly rises to the top of the window, covering it with a translucent emerald curtain. Its main characteristic, however, is its tireless productivity.
The fruits of the Indian cucumber have excellent flavor and high nutritional value. When the fruits are still small (25-30 cm long), they are eaten like regular cucumbers and are just as tasty.
The mature fruits, which reach 2 m in length and weigh 7-10 kg, are used to prepare various dishes. After peeling, you can make a salad with vinegar. This cucumber is fried, like zucchini, in oil.
Olive oil is best suited for this purpose. It's used to make excellent caviar, delicious sauces, and even porridge with milk.
The fruit grows incredibly quickly: 8-10 cm per day. Under favorable weather conditions, the Indian cucumber grows until late autumn, until frost.
A true southerner, it loves plenty of sun and warmth, and prefers loose, well-fertilized soil. Depending on the growing location, different cultivation techniques are used for this wonder cucumber.
Growing Indian cucumbers indoors is most often used by city dwellers who don't have garden plots or vegetable beds. They can be grown in spacious hospital and school hallways, or in hotel lobbies...
What is required for this?
First, you need a suitable wooden tub or box with a capacity of 10-15 liters. The bottom must have a hole to allow excess water to drain.
The box is filled with soil prepared from two parts fertile garden soil and one part rotted manure (soil from greenhouses and hothouses works well).
Add one to two cups of wood ash or four to five tablespoons of finely ground chalk to this mixture. Mix thoroughly and fill the tub with the mixture.
If the box has no legs, place it on pieces of brick or wooden blocks. Place a small, flat container underneath the box to collect any seepage. Place the plant near the brightest window.
Because the Indian cucumber grows rapidly in height and width, its foliage growth must be regulated: at certain times, the upper growth point of the central stem and side shoots (vines) are removed. The plant's vertical position is maintained with strings hung from the window ledge; the plant's tendrils cling to these strings.
IN THE GREENHOUSE AND ON THE BALCONY.
Plant the seedlings in 40 cm deep holes dug every 1 m. Moisten the holes first, add 2 handfuls of compost and 1 teaspoon of ash to the bottom of each hole, and mix the fertilizer with the soil. Plant the plants deep down to the cotyledons, compact the soil around them, and mulch with compost.
Then, a cord is pulled along which the shoots will be released and tied to a wire secured at a height of 2-3 m. During the period of most intensive growth of the shoots, the lagenaria blooms .
Male flowers form first, followed by female flowers a week later. Pollination occurs in the evening, and the male flowers fall off immediately afterward.
The ovaries grow quickly, reaching their maximum size in two weeks. However, it takes 1.5 to three months for them to fully mature, and they typically adorn the vines until frost.
Since the lagenaria is a vigorous plant with large fruits, it requires additional nutrition. When fertilizing, give preference to mineral fertilizers, as organic fertilizers will encourage excessive growth of shoots and leaves, at the expense of fruiting. Lagenaria responds particularly well to potassium magnesium sulfate (50-60 g per bucket of water).
Interestingly, lagenaria undergoes two growth waves. The first ends when several ovaries have formed. After 2-3 weeks, shoot growth resumes sharply, and a new fruiting phase begins. It is during these periods that fertilizing and watering are necessary.
For ripening, it's enough to leave 2-3 fruits, and eat the rest when they're still in the milky stage. To speed up fruit development, remove excess side shoots, leaving no more than five, and pinch off the tops.
Some believe that the lagenaria has the ability to produce more fruit if its apex is cut off. However, experience suggests that this should not be done, as the wound from such a cut heals with difficulty and often rots.
To grow lagenaria on a balcony or loggia, prepare a suitable container with a minimum capacity of 10 liters. Make a drainage hole in the bottom, add 3-4 cm of expanded clay, and fill with fertile soil mixed with humus and sand in a 2:1:1 ratio, adding 1 cup of ash and 1 tablespoon of superphosphate. Before planting, water the soil with warm water.
Seedlings are planted on glazed balconies and loggias in mid-May, and on unglazed ones in early June. One plant is placed in each container and a sturdy support is immediately installed to support the robust above-ground part and the fruit, which weighs between 2 and 7 kg.
HARVESTING.
For eating, lagenaria is harvested when the fruits are approximately 5-7 cm thick. Raw, they are added to vegetable salads, and are also stewed and canned.
The fruits intended for seed are allowed to ripen. To prevent the vine from breaking under their weight, they are placed in nets secured to a support.
Before frost, the fruits are cut with a small vine, brought into a dry room with a temperature of 16-20 degrees Celsius, and kept until the seeds inside rattle when shaken. This usually happens in late November. At this point, the fruits become light and the skin woody. The top is sawed off with a hacksaw, and a wire with a curved end is used to help the seeds fall out. Then they are thoroughly dried and stored at room temperature in paper bags.
Lagenaria fruits intended for crafts are soaked in boiling water and the pulp is washed out. The interior walls are cleaned by repeated rinsing with water and sand.
They are dried and used to make unique vases, jugs, bowls, and cups. They can be polished with sandpaper and painted with gouache or burned with a design, then varnished. The result is a unique craft gift. Unvarnished pieces can be used to store bulk goods and even liquids.
Lagenaria dishes are not only beautiful, but also practical, as they are waterproof.

Bot. syn.: Cucumis bicirrha Forster ex Guillemin, Cucumis lagenarius Dumort., nom. nud., Cucumis mairei H.Lev., Cucurbita lagenaria L., Cucurbita leucantha Duchesne, Cucurbita longa hort., Cucurbita siceraria Molina, Lagenaria lagenaria (L.) Cockerell, nom. inval., Lagenaria leucantha Rusby, Lagenaria vulgaris Ser.