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 ...

Kraft grows a luffa plant in her front yard in Knoxville. (Photo: Amy Smotherman Burgess) Rachel Kraft grows a luffa plant in her front yard. The gourd type plant are edible, if harvested early, or ...

Loofahs are great for exfoliating the skin, and though one of them is my regular shower companion, I had no idea what they are. I assumed the coarse tubes were either natural sponges from the sea, or ...

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 ...

Editor’s note: Luffa plants will be sold at the VCMGA Spring Plant Sale on April 2. Last September at Rockport’s Hummingbird Celebration, my friend Janet pointed to a huge vine with long ...

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 ...

Brightly coloured, synthetic bath buffs and kitchen scrubbers are a familiar sight, but growing your own natural sponges will provide you with a supply of more planet-friendly alternatives. The origin ...

You’ve probably had or used a loofah sponge in your life, whether in the bath or for cleaning around the house. But did you know it was made from a vegetable? While much of the marketing of loofahs ...