Rub A Dub Dub

This spring we planted luffa gourds again.  Luffas are prolific producers and make a gazillion seeds.  We grow them every few years and use them as well as giving them to people as gifts.  As a kid I was taught to use a wash rag in the bath tub and get plenty of soap suds on the rag and scrub real good to get dirt and grime off.  I'll tell ya something that works better than a wash rag - a luffa gourd.

I planted three seeds next to a trellis I made in the garden using two t-posts and a length of hog wire.  The luffas germinated and grew like a bad weed, vining and filling with pretty yellow blooms. The following two photos were taken in the spring.  (The rest were taken last week):

In no time luffa gourds filled the trellis, weighing down the vines.  I read that when the gourds are very young, you can eat them like cucumbers, but I've never tried.  I'm growing them for the sponge - not to eat.  We grow cucumbers to eat.

Check out the lizard hanging out on the luffa!

In time the luffas turn dark green or brown and that's when it is time to harvest them.

The skin of the luffa takes a little work to remove.  I start peeling it away, pulling on the outer skin to expose the inner sponge-like portion.

This is what it looks like when the outer skin is completely removed.  If you look closely, you can see something black inside.  Those are seeds.  Hundreds and hundreds of seeds in each one.  The seeds will all come out of the bottom if you bang the gourd on your hand or a brick or the sidewalk.

I always save a few for next year, but always have many, many extras.  If you'd like some luffa seeds, let me know.  I'll be glad to give you some.

Freshly peeled gourds can be a little damp.  I always lay the gourds in the sunshine and let them dry out for a few days, turning them from side to side so they dry out evenly.

Once dry, I make up a solution of bleach-water in a 5 gallon bucket and soak the luffa gourds in the bucket of bleach.

After a day, I pull the bleached luffas out of the bucket and let them dry out on the patio.

Once they are dry, I will cut each one of them in half.  I'll put one in the shower.  If you take soap and rub it on the luffa, it is similar to a washrag.  The luffa softens somewhat when it gets wet, but maintains a rough texture that scrubs and exfoliates skin.  When done simply wash the soap off, stand the luffa up on one end so it dries between uses.  If you want, you can freshen it from time to time with bleach.  It will last for quite a while - months and months of CLEAN.  Rub a dub dub!

Growing and Processing Luffa Gourds!

Every year we grow luffa gourds.  This is perhaps the easiest thing to grow.  Even if you don't have a green thumb, luffas will grow and flourish.  They take zero maintenance.  All you have to do is provide them some sort of trellis to grow on.  They will inevitably vine to try to take over your garden, but you can clip off the vines and compost them or feed them to your animals.  The leaves are large and sometimes hide the gourds.  You can see a big gourd in the center left below.

Luffas are gourds that we make bath sponges out of.  I harvest them as they start to turn brown or a little yellow on the vine.  They continue to produce and produce until the first freeze knocks them out of commission.  Here is the last batch of them that I pulled a little early, but I had to as the freeze killed the plant.  I'm leaving them on the patio to dry a little bit.

When you feel the outer covering getting a little dry, you simply peel it off.  It peels right off rather easily.

Once the outer covering is removed (shown below), the inner sponge is revealed.  I'll leave it in the sun for a few days to fully dry, flipping it over in the process to ensure it dries evenly and completely.

But we're not quite finished yet.  Luffas produce a plethora of seeds.  These things are serious about reproducing themselves.  When fully dry, you can shake the gourd and hear many seeds inside.  I place a bucket underneath the gourd and shake and shake and shake some more.

You end up with a LOT of seeds.  I use a few to replant for the next crop year, but I always have way too many for my own personal use.  If anyone needs any, let me know and I'll give you all you can handle.

Now, if you notice in the two photos above, the gourds are a drab brown color.  We use these luffas as bath sponges and find that they are more aesthetically pleasing when they are a lighter color and all cleaned up.  I'll generally get a 5 gallon bucket and fill it with water and add some bleach to it.  Then I'll place a batch of luffas soaking in the bucket overnight.

Most of the luffas are about 2 feet long, so after the first night's soak in the bleach-water solution, I'll flip them over to bleach the other side.  You can see the difference that the bleaching makes below.  That makes a big difference, and the top will be bleached just the same once soaked for another night.

"Let's do this" is right!

Here is one batch of the finished product:

Since they are quite large as you can tell by me holding one below, they are too big to use for a bath sponge.  I like to cut them in half.

Tricia and I each have one in the shower.  We wet the sponge, rub soap on it and use it in place of a washrag.  The luffa is a great exfoliant and is reslient and long-lasting.  You can freshen it up after using it a bit by soaking it in a bleach solution.  I've heard of people cutting the luffa into disks and when making soap, they pour the soap in the middle and let it dry.  I haven't tried that yet.  Luffas are great to give to family and friends as gifts.  Scrub-a-dub-dub.

Picking Luffa Gourds

There was enough sunlight left in the day to accomplish another task that I've been meaning to do. With everything planted in the garden except for turnips and mustard greens, I needed to get busy planting and finish up the fall/winter planting season. But before I could do that, I needed to make some room.  Two rows need to be weeded prior to hoeing and planting.  I worked up the rows earlier, but then a deluge of rainfall inhibited me from getting in there and planting and in the meantime, Bermuda grass completely conquered the rows.  There's lots of work to be done to get those rows ready again.

There is one row that is ready to be hoed and then planted, pending one task: I need to take down the trellis of luffa gourds that has taken a firm foothold on half of the 24 foot long row.  Here is a picture of it below.  I didn't plant this 'hedge' of luffa - it came up on its own, a volunteer from last year's crop.  I like to reward persistence like this and oftentimes just let the volunteers grow.  In this case, I erected a trellis by putting in T-posts and running some baling twine between the two t-posts at 6 inch increments for the luffa vines to crawl on.

Lush luffas

I could see many luffa gourds amongst the foliage as I moved the leaves and could also see that the weight of the gourds had caused the t-posts to sag inwardly, straining to support the many gourds.

A nice, 2 foot long luffa gourd

My immediate thought was, "Man, what a prolific crop.  I wish these things were edible!" and to be honest with you, they are!  But only when they are very young, like the one I'm holding in my hand below.  Luffas that size can be peeled and eaten.  I found recipes for luffa stir fry and was going to try it.  I put this one in the fridge and it turned black and unappetizing, so I composted it and didn't end up cooking it. Next year I'll do it, I promise!

Edible luffa (if they are this size)

So I began pulling on the vines and cutting off each luffa gourd.  I heard a rustling sound behind me and turned around to see that Daisy, Rosie, Clarabelle and little Luna had spotted me working in the garden and came to beg for something to eat.  I obliged and threw the thick, lush, luffa vines over the fence and the girls made quick work of them!

Meanwhile I stacked up the luffa gourds like cord wood on the row just west of where the luffas were growing.  When I was finished, I counted them up.  Twenty-nine (29) luffa gourds from one luffa plant!  Several more were hidden and dried within the vines, so I think this plant in all produced about 35 gourds!!

Stack 'em deep and sell 'em cheap!

I enlisted Benjamin's help and we loaded up an old molasses tub with the bounty and carried them to the back patio and laid them all out on the table.

My RARESEEDS Catalog says this about them:

(Luffa Aegyptiaca) Burpee's 1888 catalogue said, "A natural dishcloth, and a most admirable one. Many ladies prefer this dishcloth. The fruit grow about 2', and the vine is very ornamental, producing clusters of yellow blossoms, in pleasing contrast with the silvery-shaded, dark green foliage. In the North this variety requires starting in a hotbed. The dried interiors of these gourds have already become an article of commerce; grown in Florida, they are sold by Philadelphia and NY druggists."

I've dried a bunch of these before and used them as bath sponges. They are great for exfoliating and can be used instead of a washrag, but I never thought about using them as a dishcloth in the kitchen. We'll try this as they should be great for scrubbing pots, pans, and plates.

To dry them, first you must remove the outer covering of the luffa to expose the inner sponge and begin the drying process.  Simply peel it off.  It comes off easily with your fingers.  I save all the peelings for the compost pile.

Peeling a luffa to start the drying process

I'll show you the drying process and then the seed saving, the bleaching, and the cutting of the sponge in a future post.  I also have an idea that I'll try in which I'll cut the luffa into two inch thick disks and pour homemade soap into them and let them harden into bath soap/scrubbing sponges.  We'll see how that works out and will post the results.  Stay tuned.