I tried growing gourds last summer on my deck in pots.Had no luck with them,but have heard of others that did.Can't hurt to try.I do know they need a lot of sun and some kind of trellis or support to grow on.You might want to read the gourd growing post on here from gourdguy.He gives lots of information as to soil and fertilizer,etc.I think I would start the seeds indoors and transplant to the posts after all signs of frost are over.I paint the small gourds and the egg gourds for christmas ornaments.It is lots of fun.
It does take the gourds a long time to dry and gourds grown in the summer probably wouldn't be dry for Christmas the same year.There are lots of places to order them at reasonable prices.I get a lot from E-bay.If you will Google gourds you will come up with lots of sources to buy them.Good luck and Happy Gourding..........Lillie

Here is a link that might be useful: My gourd art

I take the small mini-gourds and make ornaments out of them. I have made them with cut-outs and also made mosaics by using gourd pieces and placed them on the mini and grouted them. If you use the mini-gourds, be careful if you cut them out because they are very thing and break easily.