One of my favorite garden annuals is an acutangula luffa vine.  I plant some of these vines on my less than lovely chain link fence each summer because they always perform with very little assistance from me.

This summer, the acutangula vines outdid themselves.  They covered the entire south side of the fence and quietly invaded the nearby shrubbery, as well as my cozy shady hideaway table and chairs. 

I started picking the vegetable form in mid-August.  This year, I mixed them in with the pipianes that my neighbor's vines produced for a unique and delicious mix of Asian and Central American cuisine. 

Of course, with vines this large, I often missed a vegetable and it would quickly grow beyond the eating size.  I ended up with more than 50 luffa sized acutangula to pick when the first frost reached central Alabama in November.

Peeling 50 luffas took some serious effort.  The only down-side to this year's crop was that the same wet summer that produced the massive vines and bumper crop also allowed mildew to grow on the luffas, resulting in some serious stains on them which required an extra step of bleaching.

If anyone wants some seeds, I have collected thousands.