Flax is up!

The extremely heavy rain last night has left everything in the dye garden looking a little worse for wear, but the flax seedlings look fine. It looks like there will be enough plants to cover the plot and discourage weeds (I’m hoping).

Flax Seedlings

In the lawn the violets have been joined by forget-me-nots, and the lilacs and lily of the valley are both making the air fragrant.

Dill and cilantro have seeded themselves and the second planting of peas have appeared as well.

Time to think about planting the rest of the garden…

Lily of the Valley

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Planting the Dye Garden

Madder

Yellow Bedstraw

We’re expecting rain this afternoon and it’s been overcast, so I planted some of the dye plants that were started indoors and spread the flax seed in the garden.

The easiest dye plant to grow was the madder, but all the others did well too. Now out in the garden are madder, woad, weld, golden marguerite, dyer’s knotweed (aka Japanese Indigo) and yellow bedstraw.

I’ve kept back half of the dye plant seedlings just in case we have a late frost or a cutworm infestation.

The space allotted to the dye-plants is about 2 square meters, with another 2 meters or so for the flax. In order to increase the number of dye plants, I may tuck some into the flower borders.

Violets

Meanwhile, the lawn is sporting a nice crop of violets  and dandelions and the crab apples are just starting to bloom.

Crabapple Blossoms

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Plant Progress Indoors and Out

All the indoor seeds that are going to sprout have sprouted by now (a few really old packets that I tried for fun are clearly not viable), so this is a little record of how they look compared to what’s sprouting in the garden.

The cotton and indigo continue to grow, and the Japanese Indigo has also sprouted. Larger pots will soon be needed, as these will not be going into the ground, and will only be outside in the hottest weather.

The other dye-plants: madder, woad and weld, were all fairly easy to germinate, and are doing well. The exception was Golden Marguerite, which will have to be re-seeded.

Outdoors, the rhubarb is enjoying a growing spurt.

The peas have been planted, but have not yet made an appearance. The mesclun mix has appeared, but is too small to photograph very well.

The flax seed saved from last year should go into the ground soon too.

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