Choosing the Right Spot When choosing an area in your vegetable garden to plant your ridge gourd plants, it's best to select a sunny spot. Ridge gourd will thrive and produce maximum fruit in sunny, well nourished soil. Additionally, they are vines, so they will need some place to climb and latch their vines onto, therefore, it is best to have a trellis or fence adjacent to the plants so they can latch on to it.
Planting Your Ridge Gourd Keep in mind, when planting your ridge gourd, check the forecast. These plants are sensitive to temperature below freezing, and may die if exposed to extremely low temperatures. Bitter gourd plants can be planted 2-3 inches apart. We like to mix 1 scoop of Osmocote fertilizer into the hole made for each plant so it has an initial boost of nutrients. Then make sure to water the plants once planted.
Daily Maintenance Once you've planted your ridge gourd in your vegetable garden, caring for them is very easy. Depending on how hot or how much sun they are exposed to everyday, you might need to water them 1-2 times per day. When the plants begin flowering, make sure to water directly to the lower part of the plants so you don't water off any flowers. There are plenty of pollinators to pollinate these flowers, results in plenty of fruit. We have not needed to spray any pesticide or insecticide on the plants, so hopefully you won't have to either.
