[header] How to dry gourds [title] Leave the gourds on the vines where they grow. [step] Mature gourds can handle frost and can even withstand a few cycles of freezing and thawing. As the plant turns brown and dies, the gourds dry and fall off. 
[substeps] If the gourds have matured by the end of the growing season but have not had time to dry, you can leave them on the vine over winter. When the snow melts and exposes them in the spring, they will continue drying where they left off in the fall.