Tonights project: Luffa (Dishcloth) gourds, round 2. Back in late October I quickly harvested all of the hanging luffa gourds ahead of an expected freeze. Ive never before grown luffa so I had no idea how to judge when they are ready for processing. Luckily, I had a nice crop and could use trial and error without worrying if I messed it up too badly. The first batch I cleaned took a LOT of work to peel the skins and remove the seeds but I did manage to get some usable sponges which are wonderful for scrubbing off garden grime or exfoliating all that dried winter skin while showering. I also learned that if the gourd was not sufficiently dried before peeling, there was no way to remove the seeds. I set aside the green gourds and hoped for the best. Over the next month, about 1/3 of the remaining gourds rotted and were added to the compost heap. The others were placed in a box in my dining room to continue drying. With the holidays, the gourds were pretty much shuffled aside and overlooked. This evening I began processing them again. Some of them were dry enough they sounded like a Mexican maraca. It turns out those are the perfect ones to process! They peel MUCH easier and the seeds start falling out as soon as there is an open spot. A few of them had bad spots which were cut off or the entire sponge was discarded if bad enough. I have more good luffa seeds than I can use in my lifetime. And, plenty of sponges to last for months and possibly even until the next harvest. I live right on the border of zone 5b/6a so Im at the very northern edge of their range as they need a very long growing season. I plan to start the seedlings early in my greenhouse and give them a bit bigger pot this year for a better head start. They do NOT tolerate any frost. I grew half on the ground and half on a trellis. Both methods seemed to work equally well if you have the space.
Posted on: Wed, 07 Jan 2015 00:20:44 +0000
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