We can now supply some plant material for dyeing. We have Coreopsis, Dyer’s Chamomile, Orange Cosmos, Weld and Rudbeckia. All of these will yield orange – yellow colour. Contact Helen in Bookbinding for more info if you are interested. H.gibbs@brighton.ac.uk
Over the summer we have continued to develop the garden with some more paths, new plants and general maintenance which included a lot of watering to keep things alive. When two sycamore trees were felled we had a ready supply of wood chip for the paths and some logs to make simple seats for the gardeners.
Mid July and the coreopsis is in full flower. Harvest the flower heads which can be dried and stored or used directly by steeping in water. We grew two varieties of coreopsis. The taller one was easier to grow and seems to yield more flower heads so we will try to save some seed for next year.
Phytolacca Acinosa: a new plant in the ink garden which will hopefully produce a red/brown ink from its berries later in the season.
Spring warmth and sunshine is developing the garden into a lush green oasis. Seedlings of coreopsis and chamomile have been planted and the main crops of madder, woad and weld are really looking good.
Madder in the foreground and flowers of woad behind which will develope into seed for next year’s crop.
Weld starting to develope it’s flowering spikes.
Woad leaf
During the Easter holidays, work has begun on some willow edges to the beds. This will soften the garden and define some paths which will provide access to the beds for harvesting.
This week all the wooden framework has been removed from the garden and the path has been relaid with tarmac.
Although it is a shame to lose the sitting area, there is now more space to grow plants.
And perhaps some new seating could be found from somewhere.
A new garden is being planted at Grand Parade in the green space beside the Waste House.
Planting will begin this Spring and will include a collection of berry plants and vegetables, all of which can be harvested for different coloured inks.
The new ink garden will partner the already established Dye Garden which has been growing plants for dye for a number of seasons.
This blog will keep you up to date with the development of the garden and provide links to other useful resources for anyone interested in the growing and processing of plants for natural inks and dyes.