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My "ugly" gourd tower won the neighborhood contest, here's the weird stat behind it
So I entered my crooked bottle gourd tower into the annual block garden showcase last Saturday and it took first place. Everyone kept asking what my secret was, so I looked it up. Turns out, oddly shaped gourds are actually MORE likely to win at county fairs because judges look for uniqueness, not perfection. I read it in a 2019 issue of "Gourd Magazine" at my dentist's office, of all places. Since then I've stopped straightening the vines and just let them tangle wild. Anyone else lean into the chaos and get better results?
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andrew6931mo ago
...and that reminds me, my buddy Marcus had the same thing happen with his tomatoes. He stopped trimming them and just let them grow every which way, and somehow they tasted better and won at the county fair too. He swears the stress of being neat made the plants bitter or something.
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smith.blair1mo ago
Guess @andrew693's buddy Marcus is onto something, maybe the tomatoes were just tired of being bossed around. Mine went feral last August when I gave up on staking them, and they tasted like candy, all tangled and proud of it. Next year I'm trimming nothing and just telling them to do whatever they want, maybe they'll win me a blue ribbon too.
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