Woman Harvests Huge, Mysterious Plant in Garden—'What in the World Did I Grow'

Growing a thriving garden is trial and error. Sometimes you grow plants that flourish, while others struggle to get established, and sometimes you end up growing something you never even planted. That was the case for one gardener who recently turned to Reddit to identify a mysterious plant growing in her garden.

The Redditor posted on the platform, sharing a photo of her discovery. The post showed a long, curved, green, gourd-like plant with yellowish-white speckles. "What in the world did I grow, and can we eat it?" the caption read. Based on a Google search, she speculated that the plant is an opo squash, but wasn't sure, as opo squash are "normally not as curled."

The Reddit post has 66 comments and counting, with many fellow gardeners in the forum sharing their thoughts on what the plant could be. One Redditor said they think it is a speckled bottle gourd cross-pollinated with a regular one. "I've never grown them before but I do see people grow them on a lattice that allows them to hang, which gives them a straighter shape," they wrote.

Many commenters agree that the mystery plant is likely a bottle gourd. Also known as pani lau or lauki, these plants are commonly used in India for cooking. While they are edible, they need to be harvested at the right time. "Bottle gourd is edible when super young but if it feels hard then it’s probably too late, save it and make cool maracas or something," one person wrote.

As for how the gourd ended up in her garden? The Redditor said she was trying to grow pumpkins. "We thought we were growing pumpkins until I pulled back some leaves and unearthed whatever this is," she wrote. "It likely came from Baker Creek, so I wonder if it’s one of their varieties."