Grow something different... loofah sponges!

Sometimes you just have to try something new and different, because you never know what the results might be! I like to think outside the box, and if there are good results, that is a bonus. The fun is in experimenting and working out ways to do things... even if what you've read says you probably shouldn't be able to do it. In the garden, pretty much everything is new to me, but the challenges of growing things that might not usually be associated with Canberra's climate and growing conditions... that's really doing something different!

The Luffa are tropical and subtropical vines that I admired from Rhonda and Molly's blogs, and figured I'd give it a go here in Cool/ Mountain Canberra anyways, as we loved the idea of having some homegrown loofah's to use. My alternative to disposable scrub sponges that I used to always use in the kitchen, has been crocheted dishcloths, and using plastic scrubbing brushes, that last longer but still go to landfill, or maybe, at least be recycled. But growing your own luffa's and processing them into loofah sponges with barely any effort and few resources... that appeals to me!

Being curcubits, who don't take well to be transplanted (ie. seed grown in a small pot, then planted out into the ground when the seedling is bigger) the seeds are better to be planted directly in the ground, and in Canberra, that means after the last frost, so late Spring. Make mounds near your trellis, out of good quality soil, and put two seeds in each mound. If you put them in earlier, you could cover them if frost is forecast. I am also going to try using jiffy pots this year, and start them off in my mini greenhouse, and hopefully there will be minimal transplant shock, as jiffy pots go into the ground, with the seedling. If I try some worm juice applied after planting, that might help them settle in better too.


Last year, the plant didn't do much for quite a while (perhaps it wasn't in a hot & sunny enough position?), but finally, after some good rain, the vine took off. It got quite vigorous and spread all over the trellis we had up (and the one behind it, waiting to be put up elsewhere), and even tried climbing up and over the fence. Then, at the end of Summer, it actually started putting female and male flowers on, and with the help of some lovely bees, we got some fruit starting! There were 5 luffa's, and though not as big as they might get in tropical areas, I was impressed! This year, I will try picking out the ends of the vine, once the runners get about 2 m, to encourage female flowers along the runners, and therefore, get more fruit (hey, it worked with my pumpkins last year) to be pollinated.

I let them grow and grow, even in Autumn they were still doing OK. In hotter places, you would leave them on the vine until they dry and go brown, but with the start of the frosts here, the vine died off and I picked them green. I put them on the laundry windowsill as that gets alot of sun and heat, but they took weeks to dry out properly. Maybe a safe, dry, sunny position outside might be better. Wait until they are very dry and it will be easier to dislodge the seeds and peel off the crackly skin. Then you can process them into usable, reusable, washable household items!


Take your dried luffa, and bang it gently to 'release' the seeds from the inner. It's OK if you crack the skin a bit while doing this... don't panic! You can hear the seeds shaking around inside.

Take the end off the luffa (there is a little disc on one end) and shake the seeds out onto a plate or into a container.

Than start 'peeling' the skin off, sort of cracking & peeling it as you would a hard boiled egg. It should come away from the inner sponge easily.
Keep going until it's all peeled. You can compost the peel.

Some of the loofahs came out fairly 'clean' and light in colour. Others that are 'stained' might need some sun bleaching, or others do use a dilute bleach solution to whiten them. Or, any particularly dirty or mouldy areas can be simply cut out of the sponge and composted, and the other sections used as sponge.

The light seed coating can be removed before you store the seed, by rubbing them between your fingers, or it may have fallen off already during the processing, or just don't worry about it.

Label and store the seed, to use to grow again the next season. Apparently they can be roasted and eaten, as you do get alot of seed out of them. Or even better, share them amongst your family, friends, neighbours, or even strangers, so they can experience the wonderful feeling of growing your own household sponges and doing something different!