Grow your own bath sponge! Luffa gourds are the familiar bath sponge. Growing your own will keep you entertained all growing season and are great fun for a long time after they are harvested. Peel ...

Shaped like an oversized apple, these hard-shelled gourds (Lagenaria siceraria) grow six to eight inches tall and four to six inches across. In India, young fruit is added to curries. The skin is ...

I have been getting a lot of questions lately on how to handle a luffa or loofah gourd to get a usable sponge. Luffa or sponge gourds should be harvested when the outer shell is dry. When you can hear ...

I usually start my sponge gourd seeds indoors during the last week of April and move them to a heated cold frame in mid-May. (I heat my cold frame with a 100-watt light bulb, but recently learned ...

The basic types of gourds are the cucurbita, or ornamental gourds; the lagenaria, or large utilitarian gourds; and the luffa, or vegetable-sponge gourds. Despite the invention of plastic, these ...

I was introduced to the Luffa gourd while living in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, where it grows on every telephone pole in the province. Guanacaste has a dry tropical forest ecosystem with at least six ...

This recipe shows how to cook patola clam soup using sponge gourd and fresh clams simmered in a light and soothing broth.