Yep! They are neat. You peel the ripe, dry gourd and then slice it for sponges. I'd like to also set them in homemade soap bars, like goats milk soap and some herbs from the garden like lavender or lemon balm. They make great Christmas gifts. I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's see if I can actually grow these to maturity.
Wait, what? They're actually sponges? Wow... didn't see that one coming... I thought it was something like a spaghetti squash or something and it just described the shape/form of the vegetable.
We grew Luffa (Loofah?, Loofa?) three or four years ago. They do make wonderful Christmas gifts. I still have two whole ones in the shower that I use once a week, or so. Perfectly intact, and as good as the day I started using it. It is amazing how the fiber and texture of these things is just the ideal combination of "scrub". Great for your dishes, too. They self-seed terribly well, though; just a really aggressive plant. I would recommend letting the gourds dry completely on the vine. They get gnarly, gummy, and sticky, if not. I peel them, keep them whole, and then try to wash them thoroughly in Dr. Bronner's soap. You just won't be able to get the hundreds of enormous black seeds out of these things in one go. Then I soak them in an Oxo-Clean solution to brighten them up, and let them dry out in the sun.
@binx bolling I'm so glad to hear from someone who has experience growing them! So far, all my info is online articles or YouTube videos. What you say is consistent with what I've watched. It's also why I'm concerned we won't have a long enough season to mature these. I might have been able to start them slightly earlier, but not much. We start having frosts in October usually. Edit: I suppose I could leave them out there past frost? The plant would get slapped but the gourds might be fine? I also did not realize the sponges lasted so long with use. I knew about all their great uses and properties but I sure love hearing how long they'll last. So I could theoretically grow enough for our family to use for anything we want. Here are some Dr Whyche tomatoes. I am impressed, the longer the season goes on. Great growth habit, good fruit set, fruit size is large. The first tomato I pulled was extremely non acidic. I honestly didn't care for how that made the tomato taste but could objectively see the positive side of that quality for some people. But, all the following fruit have some acid and taste much better, in my opinion. Still low acid, just not "no" acid.
The Flower Lady near me has an incredible field full of flowers. Took these pics today driving Zoe back from daycare.
I’m getting flowers from her for my mom today. We’ve gone only to her for flowers for almost twenty years now.
A POPULAR living. She’s a star for the fact her arrangements are completely fresh and less than half the price of any florist in town. She just cranks out $20-$40 bouquets all day long.
Got the Fall/Winter garden all planted. That's - Ruby Red Swiss Chard Detroit Red Beets Waltham Broccoli Snowball Y Cauliflower Purple Top Turnips Purple Top Rutabagas French Breakfast Radishes Lacinato Kale Southern Giant Mustard New Kuroda Carrot Georgia Collard Greens Purple Vienna Kohlrabi Green Vienna Kohlrabi Green Arrow Peas Red Acre Cabbage Brunswick Cabbage Whew.
I forgot to bring these in until after it frosted but I think they will be okay. The brown ones were drying on the vine and were the first fruit to set. I have them in the dehydrator now at 95f. I think it should emulate a warm dry summer day and work out fine. I need these done within the week so I can make soap with them.
First 2 luffa processed and drying again in the dehydrator. I should be ready to use them tomorrow. I peeled, cleaned and bleached them today.