Monday, July 13, 2009

Natural Sponges

I started to consider growing luffa after reading an article in the Sierra Club blog. The blog had a link to a web post about growing your own luffa sponges called How to Make (and grow) a Luffa .It sounded simple enough so I planted a few at the base of the old maple tree near the garden. I’m hoping I can train the vines to climb up the tree. The spot I picked seems to be a bit dry for the plants but they are putting up a good effort. The surviving 6 plants are currently are less than 2 feet tall/long and I’m trying to train them to climb up the tree.

The kids are currently concerned that I’m grown another ‘strange’ vegetable for them to eat. Even though luffa is edible we won’t be eating them. I plan on letting the fruits mature and try to process them to make home grown sponges. I believe the kids might have lots of fun squishing the fleshy parts out to make the sponges. I’m hoping to have at least a few for the kids to make some for themselves but if the plants take off and are fruitful we may have nice holiday gifts to share with family and friends.

Look for a posting in the fall for the next stages of this gardening experiment.

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