One of the things I love best about this site is checking out the fantastic gardening projects members of this site share via the forums. Last week, while making my morning rounds, I came across this fantastic, Godzilla-esque loofah (aka luffa) grown and recently harvested by forum user rachelanderson.

Isn’t it incredible?! There’s enough sponge there to wash dishes and scrub backs for years to come. I would suggest she enter some kind of local Fall Fair event with that thing. I’m afraid of Rachel’s mega-sized loofah, a trait that marks it as a potential candidate for first prize in The US of A or Canada where something as exotic as a loofah is bound to confuse and delight.

A loofah sponge is not the easiest product to successfully bring to full term in cooler climates. The plant needs about 110 days to go from vine, to flower, to fully mature fruit. I’ve covered growing loofahs in the past (page 164 of the You Grow Girl book) and even though I know a thing or two about the process I have never grown anything worth holding up alongside Rachel’s sponge. Her success is so inspiring, I just had to know her secret so I emailed her hoping she would be willing to offer up some tips.

Here’s what she said:

• She lives in West Virigina, somewhere between USDA zones 5 and 6.
• She shares a garden plot with her dad. They used a giant plastic sheet as mulch that was installed in the spring before any weeds had a chance to come up.
• She started the seeds in potting soil around mid-May and planted the seedlings in the garden when they were big enough to make the move.
• They put rock dust on the plants in the morning before the dew dried to keep the bugs and deer from eating them.
• They did not use any fertilizers.
• She attributes most of her success to the plastic mulch which kept weeds from stealing soil nutrients from garden plants. I’m going to add that the mulch probably helped to prevent drought and warmed up the soil earlier, keeping it warmer for a longer length of time.

Thanks Rachel! Your loofah is certainly inspiring and dare I say, ummmm… enviable.