The Perfect Scrub for the Tub

Every couple of years, I'll plant three luffa gourd seeds in a hill and let them trellis on some cattle panels I have stacked one on top of the other.  They vine like crazy, with big leaves, big beautiful yellow blooms and before long dozens of gourds hang from the trellis.  The yellow flowers attract honey bees.  We welcome them to the garden.

The gourds mature and dry on the vine and I usually pick them off when they are at this point:

This is how they look when they are almost fully developed.  Once they reach this point, they'll begin to turn yellow and then brown and will dry up.

The brown, outer-skin will need to bee peeled off.  This exposes the inner fibrous sponge.  The first time you see it, you wonder how this was grown and not manufactured.  

When you turn it to the bottom, you see NUMEROUS black seeds.  I begin gently batting the luffa gourd and all the seeds begin to fall out.

The seeds you see below are just from one of the gourds.  It is amazing how many seeds they produce.  I have a big container full of them.  If anyone is interested in seeds, just let me know.  You can have all you want.

Once I have all the luffa skins removed, I mix a bleach/water solution in a 5 gallon bucket and soak the luffa gourds for 10 minutes and then flip them over.  This cleans them up.

At this point your luffas are ready to use.  We use them as a wash rag in the tub or shower.  The luffa is a little too big, so we cut them in half.  Pour some shower gel on the luffa or rub some soap on it and scrub.  It exfoliates your skin and cleans you up nicely.

Or you can give them away as gifts.  They make a nice present.

Believe it or not, they last for a long time.  Freshen them up from time to time by soaking them in bleach.  Rub a Dub Dub.

Birdhouse Gourds Are Flourishing

Check out the birdhouse gourd vines and luffah gourd vines that completely cover the cattle panel trellises we have in the center of the garden.  The yellow flowers are the luffah gourds.  The birdhouse gourds have a white flower.  The flowers that cover the vine are nice to look at.  On a Saturday morning there is a lot of bee activity as they buzz in and go flower to flower pollinating.

The vines are so thick and they keep sending out growth.  The tendrils wrap around anything.  I think if I stood still they'd wrap around me and Tricia would have to come free me from their grip with a machete.  Amazingly, all this growth is from 3 luffah gourd plants grown from seed and 3 birdhouse gourd plants grown from seed.  Both were seeds saved from previous years.

The luffah gourd flower reminds me a little of a a hibiscus. 

As I lift up the canopy of leaves and look beneath, I see a multitude of birdhouse gourds that are growing and maturing.

I will continue to let them grow until ultimately they will dry out on the vine.

At that point, I'll drill a hole in the bottom and make a birdhouse.  I'll show you how I do this later this fall.  The two that are hanging below are from two or three years ago.  I have them hanging in the backyard from a pecan tree. 

It is a cool little craft to make and give away.  Some people paint them white, but I like the natural color.  I would like to tell you that birds moved into the birdhouses and raised a family there, and perhaps they had in the past.  Right now, unfortunately, each one has a big wasp nest inside.  That is probably why the birds don't move in.  Killing the wasps in the birdhouses are on my project list for this weekend.