I’ve been wanting to grow loofahs ever since my aunt gave me one as a christmas present, for use as a washing up sponge/scourer. I’d only ever thought of them as being used to scrub your back in the bath before! I’d been looking for an alternative to the horrible sponge/scourers we use (I HATE buying them, but they seem to do the job best). So … today I finally remembered that I wanted to buy some loofah seeds and got onto google, and found a link to a great article http://down—to—earth.blogspot.com/2007/06/harvesting-loofahs.html which tells you everything you need to know about growing, harvesting and storing loofahs.
The article also mentions Madagascar Beans. “They’re a traditional permaculture plant. Two seeds will grow a wall of beans that can be shelled and stored in the cupboard as dried beans.” Never heard of Madagascar Beans so definitely need to check them out!
I never knew that loofahs grew like this, in the seed pods… well I suppose I just never thought about it at all!
Came across these in India a few years ago.The trees themselves were huge!