Sunday, April 3, 2011

Loads of LUFFA & my first GIVEAWAY!

From this in August ...


I was so excited to grow my luffa plants. As you can see above I raised these little beauties from seed, a very rare feat in my gardening experience so far. 

I have written about my luffa's here, here and here. Can you tell I'm playing favourites!

Well this weekend it was time to harvest them!

I have harvested a few here and there to include with presents, but this time we ended up with a whole load!

... to this in April


And this isn't even half of them. These are just the ones that have been left to dry on the vine, which makes it super easy to take the exterior shell coating off and get the seeds out. There are still a whole load on the vines too, which means we'll be stocked up on luffa's until the end of the year!

Peeled and de-seeeded

When they luffa pods are as dry and brown as the picture above, it's only a matter of banging the pod against a hard surface to loosen in from the luffa and peeling off the outer shell and tipping out the seeds (for seed raising later on).

Load of LUFFA's

The next step is to soak them all in bleach to make them sparkling white.

Eventually, I'd also like to try making soaps incorporating the luffa's.

I now have SOOO many luffa seeds that I do not know what to do with, so I'm going to do a little giveaway. 
The first 10 people to leave a comment will receive a pack of 10 luffa seeds for you to grow your own. 

Please include your email address so I can email you to get your postal address. 

Hope you all had a great weekend!



AFTERTHOUGHT: Well I am new to this whole giveaway business and of course dived straight in! I don't want to be bailed up by the quarantine authorities so unfortunately I do have to limit the giveaway to those addresses in Australia, excluding WA & Tas (goodness they are strict!). Sorry about getting your hopes up if you are outside these areas, hopefully I can come up with a giveaway for everyone shortly :)




11 comments:

  1. Maybe your seeds will do better. I planted some luffas almost three weeks ago and they have YET to sprout. I really want some natural sponges of my own. Your are gorgeous!

    Stephanie :)
    www.simplicitymom.blogspot.com

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  2. Hay Kimberely,

    Good on ya and congrats on the bountiful harvest. I have never grown these.

    clarencecoast@gmail.com

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  3. Oh thankyou so much. I have often wanted to grow my own luffas and now I will. Again thankyou, Wendy

    guttering1@bigpond.com

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  4. Im not sure about the health side of things, but I think the luffas look better in the picutre above, unbleached and natural. Then, when they are finished - they can go in the compost?

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  5. I had some seeds for these but the mice ate them. I do plan on getting some more as I would love to get a crop of these.

    Not from you though, smile, as I am in WA. Good luck to everyone else trying to grow them though.

    Barb.

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  6. Hi Karyn

    I've heard just leaving the luffa's in the sun also whitens them up a bit. I think I might do this with this bunhc, like you said bleach can't be good for the compost!

    Kim

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  7. This is an amazing giveaway! I am so interested and cant wait to grow my own! :)
    shannonforpeace(at)gmail.com

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  8. Yay! I made it in under the 10! Thank you Kim.

    hazeldene61@gmail.com

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  9. Just wondering if they will grow down in southern Victoria Thanks
    Kelly
    kel2em@yahoo.com.au

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  10. Hi Kimberly, just found your post by accident, I love where you are taking your life........ your pathway. I would also love to grow some luffas with my children, your offer is very kind.
    Many thanks,
    Lynda
    lyn.lottie@gmail.com

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  11. About germination: soak overnight in water, and-or lightly scrape the surface of the seed with a nail file, to nick the surface. That will make them germinate, often in just a couple days

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