Adventures in Loofah (Luffa aegyptiaca)

It has been too long since we've posted...since we still haven't constructed those cold frames out of the old windows sitting in our shed, nor have we come up with the money for a hoop house our growing season is effectively over. Though we did finally transform the loofah squash in to sponges. Here's what the vine looked like back in August, attacking the entire front of the house.


We let the squash grow and dry on the vine. Then we peeled them.


And harvested TONS of seeds for replanting next year. Though instead of blanketing the entire front of the house we've decided to plant it along the back fence in the spring.

tomatillo

what is left of the fennel

mid-summer garden...

sweet potatoes in tires (regular potatoes in tires = fail). volunteer sunflowers screening the trash can compost bins. and the lawn in need of a mow. the neighbors hate us.

second year of fig growth. need to espailer along the wall.



we don't recommend planting loofah squash unless you have a whole lot of room.

beans, tomatoes, garlic, oh my!

tiny cucumbers
someone has been sleeping on the garlic

tomato explosion
beans! (two kinds of bush beans in the foreground and one pole type in the back)

going strong

we've made it through the rain to sunny and warm days. the plants love it.

bed #2. carrots, lettuce, beets.
bed #1. from front to back - asparagus peas, chard, kohlrabi, kale, peppers, tomatoes.
beans!
strawberries in the front beds.

the tomatillo is loaded with blooms

rain, rain

in the past 10 days, not including the current deluge of rain we are getting, we've had 4.45 inches of rain in norman. i feel like we're living in the pacific northwest.

we bottled the beer last wednesday. the all important sterilization shown below.

siphoning into bucket with sugar water to then be bottled. we tasted a little at this stage, pretty good, but mighty flat. it could possibly be ready as early as next wednesday, the 13th, or by the 20th.

cooling the wort.

we're trying a batch of 'american micro style pale ale' homebrew.

everything is in...

well almost.
potato tires. food and a screen for neighbor's backyard (along with some sunflowers not pictured).

eggplant - classic, purple rain, little fingers and fairy tale varieties planted 4/16.

peppers and tomatoes (not pictured) planted 4/17. tomatoes - aunt ruby's german green (the only tomato gabe will eat raw), roma, italian grape, and tomatillo. peppers - jalapeno, purple beauty, sweet red, and calfornia wonder.

zucchini monster emerging.

the front bed. we planted a Cherokee purple tomato, poblano and serrano peppers (in the foreground) on 4/11. the large metal lattice in the back ground will be used for mini melons, to be planted 4/18 or 19.

plantings for 3-29

beans as pictured, and
asparagus pea
dill
garlic chives
genovese basil
lemon basil
lima beans
marigold
nasturtium
oregano
parsley
red malabar spinach
sage
squash
strawberry spinach
sunberry
thai basil
thyme
true lemon cucumber
white wonder cucumber
zucchini

the beginings

loose sketch of things, as of 3-29-09 (up is north). approximate dates of planting noted.