I've put a different sign up at work everyday for almost two years. I have a file with thousands of sayings, but I'm always on the look out for more. I did a Google search on weird facts and came across one that stated that Luffa sponges grew on a vine and were not from the sea as I always thought. Sometimes these "facts" are quite right but this one was. It's a long green gourd with a large yellow flower.

From Rachel's Loofah Sponge Page http://www.rachelssupply.com/loofah.htm
It is a very fast growing annual that produce vines up to twelve feet or more. I have seen them grow over 20 ft. high in trees and produce dozens of gourds per plant. When fully matured, you can peel off the dried and crisp outer shell to expose the fibrous sponge. To clean your Loofah you wash it in clean water and then soak it in a solution of bleach and water and allow to dry in the sun. Loofah sponges will last a long time if washed and allowed to dry after each use."

So I ordered some seeds. Now being a gourd it's going to require a lot of water. My co-worker Big "T" Tony was telling me about the EarthBox (TM) that he was using. I looked into it. Yakes! It looked really cool, but the cost and the shipping was (way) more than I wanted to spend. So I Goggled "make your own homemade "self-contained gardening system" and find this excellent site. http://www.josho.com/gardening.htm

Anything I put down is not going to be as well as Josh's, you really should head over to his page also, but I'm putting it in to be complete. (Figure 1). I started with two tubs that I've had for a while, (Figure 2). The one that was going to be the inside was easy to pick as it's the one Toby decided to make into a "Toby Toy" which is anything that will fit into his mouth. Josh used a round smaller submerged basket (Figure 3), but this was the only one I could find. (and I was just too lazy to go shopping around).  (Figure 4), It fit inside. I placed the basket up to the tub to get the cutting height, (Figure 5), traced all the way around it and drilled a starter hole. Figure 6. Half way through. And done. (Figure 7)

Now the bottom, (Figure 8) I used the bottom of the basket to trace (Figure 9) and drilled 4 starter/end holes. (Figure 15) Done with that now. (Figure 10) I drilled as many 3/8" holes that would fit, and you can see the large hole at the corner for the water tube. (Figure 11), Here's everything at last, the cut off bottom is inside with the basket under it giving it some support. The lid has the middle cut out of it. (Figure 12) I've drilled an 3/8" overflow hole in the side through both tubs (Figure 13), so that you can never over water it. If I did it again I would use tubs with straight sides, I'm worried that with the curve of the tubs, the overflow will just dribble down in-between the two tubs, I'll keep you all posted on this. UPDATE: The overflow water did, in fact, dribble in-between the two tubs. I've enlarged the hold enough that I can stick my finger in and feel the water level. Sorry Josh. 8-(

On to outside. Here are the supplies (Figure 19). One last look before I start putting the potting soil into the basket. (Figure 14). Some soil will drop down in between the two buckets and that's ok, just don't let it block your overflow hole. (Figure 15) Here's the basket full. (Figure 16) Started filling the rest. (Figure 17) You want to fill it up all the way to the tippy top. (Figure 18).

Now you can see why the lid was cut open like it was. I used black plastic under the lid (Figure 19). The original homemade "self-contained gardening system" has six holes cut into the lid, but this gives you more control just where the plants will be. Since I'm doing Luffa seeds on one side I wanted the plants as close to the edge as I could, so that once they start to grow I can place the tubs up to a trellis. The lid only snaps onto the ends of the tub using bungee cords I was able to keep the plastic nice and tight.

The black plastic also helps keep the soil moist and warm which will help with the luffa. AS for the rest of the tub, I'll probably just put in sunflowers.