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.
Starting to harvest the flower heads from the dyer’s chamomile to use in solar dye pots
BFK paper in the Chamomile solar dye jar
Early June and we have started to harvest the weld flowers – the flower spikes are being dried for storage
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
Growing, harvesting and dyeing with madder
Mid April and the madder has started to grow quickly.
Colour extracted from tea leaves:
green tea, redbush, black, nettle fennel & peppermint, orange peel cloves and cinnamon
It’s time to start seed sewing for the dye garden.
Coreopsis seed is started in a warm incubator.
Germination can take several weeks so fingers crossed.
The flower heads can be harvested for colour in the yellow – terracotta range.
All about growing and harvesting coreopsis
Seedlings of Coreopsis planted out in mid April
Three blackcurrant bushes have been planted in the ink garden.
The first of our berry bushes.