Growing Luffa for Compostable Cleaning Sponges

We've all been there: the kitchen sponge has been getting ragged for the last few days... or weeks... or months. It's time to throw it away and get a new one, but you know that little blue rectangle is made with a ton of plastic and it feels so wrong to just throw it away. So you keep using it as it gets more disgusting, and the cycle continues until it just completely disintegrates. If only there were a better way.

Allow me to introduce you to: the luffa. Luffa Aeygyptica if you're feeling science-y.

Luffa (or luffah or even loofah as it's sometimes spelled) is not, as some people tend to think, a sea sponge or some kind of coral. Instead, it's a type of gourd that is native to southeast Asia. the gourds have been cultivated and harvested for centuries and they make for sponges that are gentle enough to exfoliate skin in the shower, but sturdy and stout enough to scrub the dishes in the kitchen. Completely organic, incredibly useful, and very easy to grow, Luffa are the perfect replacement for those old, plastic sponges.

The plants themselves get HUGE but they are very easy to grow. I grew mine in a flowerbed in my backyard and used a little trellising to help support and guide them. They put on a lot of fruit, meaning you can grow a couple years' worth of sponges in just one growing season and the best part is, aside from the initial purchase of seeds, this project is a completely closed loop making it very ecofriendly! The luffa plants produce fruit as well as seeds that you can plant next year and the dead vines and used luffa sections can go straight in the compost to feed next year's plants. They're even edible (if you pick them early), and everybody will think you're the coolest for growing your own sponges. Want to learn more? Let's get into it!

For this project you really only need a few things. They are:

1. Luffa seeds: I got mine here at Annie's Heirloom Seeds
2. Soil
3. Water
4. Sunlight
5. Time
6. Sharp knife (preferably serrated)
7. Bleach (optional)

Step one is pretty straightforward. Go to the seed retailer of your choice and purchase luffa seeds.

Step two is also fairly straightforward. Follow the supplier's planting recommendations and plant your seeds. Make sure your little seedlets get plenty of water and sunshine and that their soil is fairly healthy. Also make sure that they have plenty of room because, again, these plants get BIG.

Once your seeds sprout, it's time... to wait. If you've ever gardened before, you know this is the hardest part. Spend the time while you wait making sure that your plants are getting plenty of water and sunshine and that they aren't being overrun by weeds. Then just wait for that sweet plant magic to happen.

Your plants should become healthier and stronger as the growing season progresses. Pretty soon they'll put on buds, then blooms, then full on fruits. If you want to trellis the plant, now is the time to do it, or you can just let it sprawl all over the ground. This is also the time to pick the gourds early if you want to find out what a kitchen sponge tastes like in a stir-fry.

It's getting close to the end of the growing season. The days are getting shorter, and the nights are getting colder, and your gourds should be starting to dry out and turn brown. It's tempting to pick them before they're ready, but you want to make sure they're really, really dry before you pick them. If you're worried that they might mold on the vine, that frost might get them, or you're just impatient and can't wait any longer, go ahead and pick them, even if they're a little bit green, and hang them up close to a window where they can get lots of warm sunlight. Make sure that they have airflow all around so they can dry out the rest of the way.

Now the fun part. Once your luffa are ready take your completely dry luffa and peel it. I found it was easiest to sort of push my thumbs into the dried skin so that the flesh would give a little and the skin would crack, giving me some bits to pull away. Ideally, you want to pull off large sections of skin. My luffa were picked while they were still a little bit green, so the skin tended to flake off instead of peeling off, but the spongy flesh inside was still perfectly useable.

Once you've got all the old, dry skin peeled off, just use your knife to cut your luffa to a size that seems useful to you. I cut some pieces to more of a dish sponge size and some to more of a shower sponge size because I plan to use them for both. You may want some for scrubbing counters, or floors, or your dog or cat or whatever. The possibilities are endless!

The seeds will inevitably fall out of the luffa as you perform this step, so don't forget to collect and save them for planting next year.

As an optional step, you can soak the cut portions in bleach to kill any microbes that are currently on the luffa. The sponges are perfectly useable the way they are, but bleaching them will slightly prolong their shelf life. After giving them a little soak, lay them out to dry and then pack them away for storage and later use.

And that's all there is to it! This is easily one of my favorite home and garden hacks as it reduces the waste that comes through my home but still gives me a good tool for keeping that home clean. It really is such an easy way to feel really good about the ways we keep ourselves and our things clean. So go grow some luffa and make yourself some handy sponges. Scrub your dirty bod, or your dirty dishes, or your dirty... anything really. And when you're done, just toss that filthy sponge in the compost, because you can!

Thanks for reading!