Luffa Sprouts!

Last year Dora, from Y-2K Hippie, sent me a package of Luffa seeds. I had a hard time finding them here and ya gotta love the blog world! I'm so grateful to Dora for sending me that little package of seeds and I patiently waited all winter to plant them.

Dora sent me an email last week and when I read it on Sunday I hustled my biscuits out to the greenhouse and got started. Luffa needs a nice, long, hot growing season and time was a wastin'. I wasn't sure how to go about it and I found reading on the net there were a few conflicting stories. I went with my gut (and Dora's too) and soaked a dozen in a plate of water for two days. At the same time I also placed six seeds (I swear there was 7) between a folded up paper towel and kept them wet. (A couple of times they dried out because it's so flippin' hot in this house!)

After two days I put the dozen into small soil filled newspaper pots in a mini greenhouse. I then set the whole works on a germination box Hubby and I made last year, which sits beside a very hot woodstove. It's been four days and I have sprouts! Woohoo!

Here's one in the newspaper pot:

And here's one from the paper towel:

So far all but one of the seeds in the paper towel have sprouted, and out of the dozen newspaper pots two have come up. Some of you may not know that Luffa is what we use in the bath and shower. I've always thought they came from the ocean, and some think it's a man made item, so it was nice to find out we can grow it in our own yard. I really hope these grow well so I can harvest seeds for next year and also add Luffa Sponges to Christmas baskets! Check out how easy they are to prepare at this link.

UPDATE:
I took a picture this morning and I think these guys are really going to take off! I didn't notice this one poking through the side last night!

I'm off to Kamloops today! We got wind that Hubby's job was going to turn into a "21 day in 7 day out" thing and tomorrow he starts his 7 days off. I have to pick him up at the airport around 10 tonight so we won't be home until almost midnight! Two of the days are travelling days so he'll only actually be home for 5 and I hope we get time to do something with the garden while he's here. At the very least I will get a small break from packing wood, chicken feed bags, and anything heavy! For about a week my lower back has been killing me and I'm getting pretty snarly with everyone. Yesterday I put my phone on "do not disturb" and ignored everyone... the final straw was when my son dropped a large jar of almost full peanut butter from about four feet in the air. He was standing on his stool reaching into the cupboard and as he handed it to me it slipped... did you know that a peanut butter lid can almost shatter when coming in contact with the floor? Needless to say we now have a very odd shaped plastic jar of peanut butter but I did manage to find another lid.