Don't Overlook These Gems

Welcome to my garden.

My husband built this archway a couple of years ago out of hedge wood harvested from our place. He built it to replace a makeshift archway that I had thrown together with concrete reinforcing wire and t-posts. On that first cobbled together archway I had planted these lush, tropical vines. When freezing weather killed them, my husband cleaned up the dead vines and took down my archway.

When I objected, because I wanted to leave it in place for the next season, he promised to build a better one for me.

Which he did.

And each year I plant these outrageous vines, luffa (loofa or louffa) gourds. I also plant Malabar spinach, but it gets overgrown by the luffa vines. I plant these two vines because they stay good looking through the whole season, until frost. None of the local insects (except bees and other pollen and nectar gathering insects) recognize them as food, so they don't get eaten up.

Immature luffa gourds being prepared to get roasted.
Paring knife for size comparison. 

Both of these vines also provide food for us. Malabar spinach leaves are edible, and not bad tasting. And the vines, with their red stems, pink flower, and nearly black berries, are beautiful. So are the luffa vines. The mature luffa gourds can be as large as my lower leg. Inside those are a network of fibers that, when stripped of skin and seeds, make the familiar luffa "sponge."

Very immature gourds, however are edible... and tasty. I toss them in oil and seasonings, then roast them at 400 degrees Fahrenheit until tender (20 to 30 minutes). Delicious! This is how I cook summer squash, as well. Between the squash bugs, cucumber beetles and extra summer heat, however, my summer squash pooped out early. So I turned to the luffa. We don't always harvest the luffas because usually the summer squash floods us. Perhaps I shouldn't be so quick to overlook these tasty treats.                                                                                            I typically plant the luffa seeds in mid-May, or so, at about the same time I make the first planting of cucumbers and summer squash. If I wanted to make sure I got fully mature luffa gourds to make "sponges," I would need to start them indoors in late March or early April, because they have a long growing season. I don't care if I get mature gourds, though. I want the tender, young ones. When frost threatens next month, I will harvest all of the tiny ones, even though they might be too small for roasting, and make a gourmet stir-fry.      

Luffa gourd (Luffa aegyptiaca) is in the cucurbit family, along with all squashes, pumpkins, other gourds, and cucumbers. It is as tropical as it looks, and so is sensitive to frost, as are the other cucurbits. The vines grow rapidly. I don't know how long they can eventually get. I must frequently prune them, or they would make my garden entrance impassable, and overwhelm anything growing nearby.

Because I've always had plenty of summer squash, I've only harvest immature gourds when they readily presented themselves. Now I go searching for them, which requires diligence, as they often are hidden among the large leaves. One day I counted maybe half a dozen little gourds that I thought would be ready soon, and when I went out a couple of days later to harvest, I actually gathered more than a dozen. They do hide. 

It's a treasure hunt.