Use a loofah to clean yourself in the shower? You can actually grow one yourself. They can literally grow on trees - actually they grow on vines, which can grow up trees 😉 You will need loofah seeds and something for the vine to grow up - like a mesh panel, tree, lattice or similar. Here is one growing on our lemon tree. As the vine grows in summer, the lemon tree wasn't fruiting anyway.
![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/82a9fb_754a5506f9d14cdcadb2f280a6f741b9~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_1742,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/82a9fb_754a5506f9d14cdcadb2f280a6f741b9~mv2.jpg)
If you give it lots of sunlight they can become quite big - even half a metre long. I find it easiest to take the skin off when it's yellow and moist. I run my thumb along the length of it once and peel it like a banana. I then dry on the clothes line with one peg each. Notice there is a cap on the bottom that spreads all the seeds when it comes off - hang with this end up so the seeds don't make a mess everywhere. When dry, the seeds can be shaken out into a bucket (whack on the sides of the bucket) and given to friends or re-planted.
It is worth getting a fruit fly trap because fruit flies can make an annoying, mouldy mess out of them.
![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/82a9fb_f74bbbba478f4b628212565cd0311efd~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_901,h_1600,al_c,q_85,enc_auto/82a9fb_f74bbbba478f4b628212565cd0311efd~mv2.jpg)
It is worth considering cutting along its length so you can make a sort of sheet / cloth out of it. Not only can you use in the shower, you can use for stubborn stains in the kitchen - a scourer cloth that won't scratch. If you don't want the seeds, birds love them.
Comments