Growing a dye and fibre allotment garden.
To get a bit closer to the linen cloth I so often use, this year I thought I would attempt to grow it.
Lammas marks the summer cross quarter, a point where we start to see the season change. It is an opportunity to celebrate the abundance of summer and express gratitude for what we have harvested so far, as we now turn inwards for the cooler months ahead.
‘Flax is a crop which transcends time - grown in Britain since the Bronze Age - and is set for a renaissance as we seek to reduce the levels of plastic used and deposited into the environment.
Along with its multiple traditional uses in apparel, table and bedroom linen, furniture, sailcloth, cordage and more it is finding new uses in manufacturing in the growing bio-composite sector.’Flaxland
To start I sourced flax seeds from Flaxland who are flax growing, spinning and weaving enthusiasts with a small holding in Devon.
I raked a patch of soil in my allotment to a fine tilth and sprinkled the seeds across it.
Very quickly green shoots emerged which grew into long stems with neat pointed leaves. In between some rouge poppies grew and the flax flowered beautiful blue, purple flowers which attracted many Cinnabar moths!
In conjunction with Lammas we pulled the flax from the ground and currently have them stood in bundles ready for the next step which is retting; a process of rotting the outer layers of the plant down to access the linen fibre in the middle more easily.