The Luffa acutangula vine is the best multi-tasking plant in my gardens. Its 20 foot vines with huge leaves and fragrant yellow flowers completely covers my less-than-attractive chain link fences. The early "fruits" are delicious to eat and the large "fruits" produced at the end of the season make wonderful sponges that are excellent for many different uses.
I first learned about this plant at a Master Gardener meeting. One of our members told the story of an uncle who used to cook "Chinese okra" that he grew himself. After he passed away, they found a large jar filled with seeds. I took some of the seeds and planted them the following spring. It was "love" right from the start.
After searching databases on the internet, I learned that "Chinese okra" was luffa acutangula, most commonly used in asian cuisine and loofah sponges. I have a friend from China so I showed her the fruits. She immediately recognized them as something her grandmother purchased in the local market in her city. The Chinese word is pronounced "s'gwa."
Everything I've learned about growing
and using acutangula has basically been from trial and error. The seeds require warm soil for germination. No matter what date I sow them, germination never occurs until mid-May or later. I've also tried starting them indoors--that works well until I put them in the ground, and then the plant waits to grow until mid-May when the soil is warm enough.
The vines will grow very long and the fruits are very heavy so the plant requires a sturdy trellis. I like to grow them on the chain link fences surrounding my backyard.
The fragrant, yellow flowers are about 1 1/2" in diameter, blooming in the evening.
I let the first of the fruits grow to full size. This takes most of the summer. After the vines set about 10 large fruits, I start picking the new fruits when they reach about 4 inches in length.
The small fruit are quite tender. I usually slice them and steam them with a little onion. They are mildly nutty in flavor.
In the fall, the large luffas are ready to pick when they begin to turn brown and dry out. It takes some effort to peel the outer coating but the sponges are fantastic--I use them for bathing, cleaning, painting, and for anything that requires a mild abrasive surface.
They produce an abundance of seeds. If you would like some luffa acutangula seeds, I would be happy to share.
This is my version of black Friday--making sure the compost pile at the barn is completely flipped by Thanksgiving. This pile was about half composted when I finished turning it. By January, when I want to start my winter veggies, it will be ready to use. 
This winter is off to a chilly start in central Alabama. The forecast for today is a whopping 25 degrees below normal. The weather guys are saying that we had snow flurries during the night. If this is a sign of things to come, we might be in for an exceptionally challenging winter.
I was quite proud of myself yesterday afternoon. I had anticipated last night's forecast for a hard freeze by getting my cold frame prepared; the plants all staged to go into their assigned winter homes earlier in the week so all I had to do yesterday was to close the cold frame. It went without a hitch. . . .
Nothing should ever go to waste. This is especially true when it comes to my gardens and backyard. My son purchased a large pumpkin for our fall decorations. It looked great but now that we are preparing for winter decorating, the pumpkin needs to move on to its next purpose--PIE!!
The easiest way to open a pumpkin is to smash it on the sidewalk! After smashing it, I scooped out the seeds, then cut the shell into smaller pieces to be roasted (350 degrees for about an hour until fork-tender). 
Meanwhile, the pumpkin was cool enough to scrape from the shell. After pureeing it in my blender, I measured it out in 2 cup increments and poured it into freezer bags, ready to make fresh pumpkin pie. This particular pumpkin produced 10 cups of pumpkin puree. 
Its time to harvest mulch! In my opinion the best mulches are the ones that God designed--leaves and pine straw. I have both in my backyard and it is time to rake and mow them all up. My awesome husband, Bob is my go-to guy for the leaves. He mows them up and dumps them in my giant mulch pile. 
The ridges, mountains and hillsides of Alabama are a riot of color this week. I cannot imagine any more diversity, even on the mountains of Tennessee or the more famous northeastern United States.
One of the wonderful benefits of living in central Alabama is that we can cheat a little on our plant zones. We can grow things that are out of their normal zone by making some minor adjustments in that plant's habitat.
Bob's Owari satsuma is one of my favorite examples of "out-of-zone" plants. My husband grew up in north Florida, where he enjoyed fresh citrus from his grandmother's little trees that she carefully nurtured "out-of-zone." After learning that some citrus has been developed for more northern climates, I purchased Bob his very own citrus tree for Father's Day.
I first learned about this plant at a Master Gardener meeting. One of our members told the story of an uncle who used to cook "Chinese okra" that he grew himself. After he passed away, they found a large jar filled with seeds. I took some of the seeds and planted them the following spring. It was "love" right from the start.
After searching databases on the internet, I learned that "Chinese okra" was luffa acutangula, most commonly used in asian cuisine and loofah sponges. I have a friend from China so I showed her the fruits. She immediately recognized them as something her grandmother purchased in the local market in her city. The Chinese word is pronounced "s'gwa." 
The vines will grow very long and the fruits are very heavy so the plant requires a sturdy trellis. I like to grow them on the chain link fences surrounding my backyard.
I let the first of the fruits grow to full size. This takes most of the summer. After the vines set about 10 large fruits, I start picking the new fruits when they reach about 4 inches in length. 