I don’t know why but I’ve struggled for years to grow luffa but this year … WOW. Aren’t they are gorgeous? These little (big) beauties cover the arch into my kitchen garden. They make me stop and smile every time I walk into the garden.
The season is changing
Autumn has arrived in our little part of the world. As usual, the summer garden got away from me. We had a very warm and wet summer this year which means most things have grown like crazy. Unfortunately, with our heavy clay soil we’ve had some casualties due to water logging, but the positive side is that it mostly impacted my pioneer trees such as Pigeon Pea that are easily replaced. Thankfully none of the longer-term fruit trees appear to have suffered too much. The bananas are absolutely loving it and have grown so big and putting out pups quicker than I can transplant but you can never have too many bananas, right?!
It’s time to prepare for the winter crop
I’ve been busy lately trying to reclaim the kitchen garden from the rampant sweet potato vine. In my busyness it escaped the confines of its garden bed and has had a jolly ol’ time creeping into the walkways and surrounding beds. Oh well, free and plentiful mulch for the chicken coop which has had more than its fair share of water.
I hatched out my first ducks this year, these gorgeous creatures combined with the rain have made a right mess of the chicken run. All excess mulch will be going towards rebuilding the deep litter to help soak up some of the mess.
The time has also come to pull out the summer crops that are coming to an end. This is something I always struggle with and tend to leave them in longer than I should. But I need the space, we eat a LOT of onions and garlic in our household so will be planting twice as much as last year. I’m also hoping to have better luck with potatoes. They seem to grow nearly all year round here and they suffer badly from the 28 spotted lady beetle during the warmer months. Fingers crossed I get a better crop during the cooler season.
Looking forward to a good scrub!!
Back to the luffas! With the season changing I’m impatiently waiting for the luffa to start dying off and drying out so I can get my first batch of luffa sponges. I’m thinking I can use them as kitchen and shower/batch scrubbers, but I’ve also heard of them being used in place of toilet paper. Not sure if I’m ready to try that one… just yet. I’d love to hear if you have any other uses.
Happy scrubbing
Lou