THE CHINESE CUCURBITS - Growing Chinese Vegetables in Your Own Backyard - page 47

Luffa was brought to China long before records were kept. Today it's grown
throughout the world, especially in tropical and semitropical countries.
Appearance
Like many cucurbits, luffa is a vine. It grows rampantly and is best trained on a trellis,
where it will take up much less space than sprawling on the ground. Some varieties can
reach 15 feet in length, with numerous pretty, bright yellow flowers. The gourds are
deeply ridged, like oversized okra, sometimes slightly curved and sometimes straight.
You'll get straighter gourds if you grow the vine on a trellis or fence so they hang free.
The gourds vary in length; longer varieties can grow over 24 inches long and weigh up
to 5 pounds; smaller varieties usually grow to about 12 inches.
How to Grow
Getting started. Luffa is a warm-weather plant and can't be set out until the soil is thor-
oughly warm. Allow about 115 days to maturity. If you can't be sure of uniformly warm
weather for that long in your area, start the seeds indoors a month in advance. Luffa is
not as delicate as it sounds. It grows successfully in Maine, so give it a try.
Luffa is a heavy feeder and benefits from a generous application of compost and
all-purpose fertilizer before planting. (See my recommendation for enriching the soil on
page 23.) The pH should be slightly alkaline, so a little lime or wood ashes may be in
order if soil tests show your soil is acidic.
PREPARING LUFFA SPONGES
Once you've harvested all the young fruit you want to eat, let the remaining gourds mature, then remove
and put in hot water. You don't have to keep the water hot, but change it daily. When the outside skin
begins to rot away, remove it and you'll see the inside is a spongy fibrous mass. Dry the individual gourds
in the sun and eureka! You have a vegetable “sponge.” This is the famous loofah of Egypt. It's great as
a back-scrubber in the shower and gives the skin a gentle glow without ever being abrasive. I've always
kept one in the shower, but it was years before I knew what it was or that I could grow it.
Many of luffa's common names tell you some of its household uses. Because it's a good scrubber,
both cooks and gardeners find endless uses for it. It doesn't get offensive or retain odors, like synthetic
sponges, and it's good for cleaning dishes, pots and pans, flower pots, and plastic seed trays. It won't
scratch no matter how hard you press. It has innumerable other uses, too. In Asia, it has been used to
make bedroom slippers, floor and table mats, and as stuffing for pillows and mattresses.
Planting. Outdoors, plant seeds 1 inch deep; sow two to three seeds every 2 to 3 feet,
and thin to one plant in each spot. There just doesn't seem to be any advantage to hills.
Unless you have an enormous garden, I suggest you grow luffa along a fence or trellis.
In this case, sow seeds about 3 to 6 inches apart and thin to 24 inches apart. Tie the