Luffa grows like mad here. Mine didn't taste that good though. Young luffa should be good to eat, but mine were bitter. Got lots of great scrubbers though. A trellis is the way to go and provides natural shade. Good idea to try chayote.

i grow luffa and winter melons (fuzzy squash) and they do great didn't try eating them though just grew them for scrubbers got 100's of of one plant

Thanks very much for the info. That's great to know. The luffa is delicious but you're right in that you have to pick them young. You've given me all the motivation I needed.

Gene

You can buy chayote at Food City - look for the ones with a tiny sprout starting.

Instead of luffa, unless you want the scrubbers, consider Armenian cucumbers. They stay edble and not bitter over a wide range of sizes. Rampant growers, too.

Plant when the nights start warming up, protect from cutworms and birds while they are tiny and enjoy.

Tell me about growing winter melons. When do you start them here and do they tolerate the heat and sun?

I like Armenian cucumbers too. Problem is having way too much. At least with luffa, what you don't eat, you can still use as scrubbers. I grow bird gourds too. Those do well. I can't grow zucchini. The minute it starts to get a nice stem, the pill bugs come and eat it.

Toucan - No such thing as too many Armenian cucumbers. Just acquire some Greek or Indian co-workers and they will take the excess.

My SO could drop a 20-lb basket of cukes in the break room and they were gone in 60 seconds. The only veggie that vanished faster was okra.

you plant winter melons same time and any other melon/ squash you can eat the young small "fuzzy squash" early in the season then towards fall you let them grow big and store them they keep for a month or 2 in a cupboard and are great for soups in the wintertime.