Saturday 20 August 2011

My first dyeplant bed - part one

This year I was determined to do some natural dyeing with fresh plants I'd grown myself. You may recall that I did make a start on the plants with some woad the year before last but I didn't cut any for dyeing as I wanted it to seed so I'd have more to work with. Sure enough it flowered and seeded last year and I have several small plants popping up in the front borders. I still can't quite bear to pick them though, so I may wait until the patch is a bit more established so I'll have more to work with (I think I might just have enough for a hankie so far!).

Buoyed with this success a dear friend of my Mum's offered to grow some plants from seed for me but first I needed somewhere to put them....

So the boys (I know you can only see one, the other one snuck off!) got to work building a dyebed....


Luckily I had had the foresight to create a suitable space (!)

The spade marks the spot....

And for a slightly less flattering version...

And here's one of Pete just because I think he looks fab in this pic   : )


Oh, and this is what happened to the other one, clearly exhausted with all the hard work...


Coming next - some dyeplants.....

3 comments:

Tracey Todhunter said...

Well done to the "boys" for all thier hard work. Looking forward to seeing what you plant an dhopefully picking up some tips for a dye plant bed of my own one day.
Tx

Crobbles said...

It looks like they are doing a grand job there. What dye plants are you going to grow in it?
Hugs
Crobbles x

Debbie said...

Thanks : )

I have some alkanet, lady's bedstraw and some meadowsweet. I've also got dyer's chamomile at the front and some borage (nowhere else to put it when it arrived!). Will post some flower pics shortly...

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