My second year of growing flax for linen; what does the future hold?

This is my second year of growing flax for linen. Last year I planted roughly half of a 10 ft. x 20 ft. plot with flax. The other half of the plot consisted of Japanese indigo and a couple of marigold plants. In my previous posts about last year's garden, I gave the dimensions as 10x10, but it was actually 10x20, half of which I planted in flax.

 

This year I planted the full 10x20 plot in flax with a space running down the middle to make weeding easier. This equates to roughly 8 ft. x 20 ft. of flax.

 

It's been growing well, despite having been swamped by weeds when I was away for two weeks, and then spent a third week recovering from some nasty bug. Nevertheless, it's been weed free now for a couple of weeks and doing well.

 

Here is a picture of my plot of flax, next to which is my dye garden with marigolds, Japanese indigo, Hopi black sunflowers, and some nasturtiums, which are hidden (click on the pictures to see them larger):  

 

The thing of it is, I've recently found out that the seeds I've been using for my flax gardens are pre-treated with a chemical which is supposed to inhibit some of the common diseases that can affect flax plants. The chemical is nasty.

 

I don't really like the idea of using treated seed, and in fact it's against the rules of the community gardens where I have my plots because only organic methods are supposed to be used here.

 

What's doubly bad is that the type of seed I use is almost the only seed that's available anywhere in the US for fiber flax. It's a cultivar called Marilyn and comes from the Netherlands already pre-treated. I have found one, or possibly two, other types, but it looks like they may also be pre-treated.

 

So where does this leave me and the possibility of future flax gardens? I'm not sure. I can save my seed from this year and use it for next year's plot. The problem there is that I will not produce enough seed to plant the equivalent square footage. Last year's seed harvest was approximately 1/2 cup of seeds. I did use it to fill in some bare patches in this year's plot, and even though last year had some stressful conditions which I'm sure affected seed production, I'm pretty sure I won't get enough seed this year to plant next year's full plot.

 

So is this my last plot of fiber flax?:



 

I'll keep looking around for a seed source. My flax-to-linen experiment is ongoing. It takes more than one or two seasons to learn the exact right time to pull your flax, and exactly how long to rett it, and deciding which method to use, etc.

 

It's been an enjoyable experiment thus far, and I hope I can find a source of untreated fiber flax seeds so that I can continue the experiment into the future. 

Harvesting lavender

It always smells so good!

Far Away Garden Update

Here's what my far away garden (which is what I call my community garden plot) looked like about a month ago in mid-July:

And here it is as of today, in mid-August (the plethora of tomatoes to the left are not mine - they're the next garden over; and the garden to the right of mine has been overrun with weeds):

I love my two rows of sunflowers. Someday in the not-too-distant future they'll bloom. I have two varieties, Mongolian Giant and Titan. They've gotten so tall!:

Here's a shot looking up between the two rows of sunflowers.

I planted pole beans with them so that the beans could use the sunflower stalks as poles. I've had a lot of Japanese beetle damage to my beans. They love bean foliage, especially if it's high up. I have to squat and move between the tall sunflowers in order to gather beans from time to time. I love being in there between the tall stalks. It's like having a little sunflower hidey-hole.

I'm getting beans and okra and peppers and tomatoes from the garden now. The corn will be ready to pick soon, and eventually the beets (if the deer leave me any). I've been cutting my marigolds as they bloom and hanging them to dry. I'm hoping to gather enough with which to dye some wool.

I've had some deer damage. They really love the beet tops and okra. I'm glad I planted three rows of okra. The first row is taking the brunt of the dear damage, leaving the other two to produce.

Last garden planted - finally

My daughter and I spent the day planting the far away garden. That's what I call my plot in the community gardens. It's really only about a 5 minute walk from my house, but as my other gardens are in my yard, this one has been dubbed the far away garden. It's been so rainy here that planting was delayed for weeks. The community plots were very swampy until midway through this past week. They finally opened the gardens up for planting last night. It was a busy place all day today with people coming and going, putting their precious seeds and plants into the ground, and hoping that they grow quickly to make up for the late start.

By 10:00 AM I was ready to call it a day, and I hadn't even gotten out to the far away garden yet. I'd only gotten as far as watering the herb and vegetable gardens in the yard and filling my wheelbarrow with compost intended for the community plot. We're close enough to the community plot that I can wheel the barrow over there, so I filled it with compost from my 'compost heap' to wheel over there. That's what wore me out. You see, the good stuff, the stuff that's ready for the garden, is all at the bottom of the heap. It takes a lot to move the not-quite-ready stuff out of the way and then get down in there to all of that dark, soil-like richness.

And a barrow full of compost is heavy. Did I mention that? And I had to navigate it along the path in the park next door, full of throngs of people there for a huge softball tournament being played on the four fields. I looked a tad out of place, and in front of all of those people I didn't want to put the barrow down to rest - come on, I have some pride. So by the time I got to the far away garden, my arms were cramping up, my shoulders were burning, I was pouring sweat, and I had to rest for a good 10 minutes before I could pick up the shovel and start loading the compost into the garden. And I'd only just begun.

My daughter joined me halfway through, so I had some much appreciated help just when I was actually beginning to peter out. We got the whole thing planted, a few sore muscles, and a bit of a sunburn despite the applications of sunblock.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed. My experience with the community gardens last year was pretty disastrous due to flooding. I have a different plot this year and, I've heard, out of the garden flood plane. We'll see how it all goes.

I'll get some pictures up when I can move my arms enough lift the camera ; )

Enjoying the harvest

Such as it is. I mean, my gardens weren't huge successes this year, but even saying that, we've been enjoyng several things from them lately.

We've had roasted beets in salads; spaghetti sauce made with tomatoes, herbs, and garlic from our garden; potatoes mashed, roasted and fried; carrots with roasts, salads, and more; fresh sweet corn cooked and eaten just after picking (yum!); green beans; and okra and lima beans coming in slowly (the first few I've frozen), but they'll begin produce in larger quantities soon.

Any day now we'll have enough poblano peppers to make a meal of chile rellenos.

So even if gardening this year has presented some challenges (flooding, weeds, pests), we've still been able to enjoy the modest fruits of all of that work and worry.

And tucked away in our freezer are things to remind us of summer when the weather begins to chill - hand-picked strawberries frozen fresh, green beans, peppers and chilies, okra, and lima beans.

More Garden Pics - Hey, it's that time of year : - )

We had a yummy salad last night with some greens from the garden: red lettuce, chard, and spinach. Here's a picture of our colorful chard. The variety is Five Color Silverbeet. I ordered the seeds from Seedsavers Exchange:


Here are some pretty bean blossoms. I have two types of beans, one is called Red Swan bean, which is a cross between a purple snap bean and a pinto. The other is called Dragon's Tongue Bean, and is a type of Dutch wax bean. I'm not sure which these blossoms represent. I didn't mark them when I planted, but the beans will tell all. Dragon's Tongue pods are creamy with purple, stripey marks. Red Swan will have dusty red-rose pods. Hopefully we'll find out which these are soon:


Here is one of my Hillbilly Potato Leaf tomato plants:

They are aptly named by the looks of this potato plant:

Here is one of my garlics curling up with my lavender and yarrow:

My blueberries continue to develop and ripen. Yum!:

Yellow St. John's wort flowers produce a red-hued infused oil. These are just about ready for the process - you have to use the fresh herb to make infused oil:

What a surprise, calendula already producing buds! For the past two years I've had to wait 'till nearly August to see blossoms. Wow!:

How does your garden grow?

My wild, backyard gardens

My whole yard is practically wild, and my garden plots are just a smidge away from going native. Here's a shot of part of my veg. plot in the way back. What you can see are beans, potatoes, chard, weedy lettuce, and a mound of violets. The violets hide an anthill. I refuse to kill the colony. The lettuce is weedy because whenever I try to weed it, a cat comes along and lays itself down right on the lettuce to 'keep me company'. So the weeding of the lettuce is sporadic. 90% of the weeds in the garden are violets:


Here are my potatoes. I've planted Kennebec and Yukon gold. They aren't 'hilled' because I planted them in trenches and backfilled the trenches as they grew:

The Swiss chard is an heirloom variety called five color silverbeet. There are several colors, green, red, yellow, orange, and I'm not sure what the fifth is:

This is one of my heirloom tomatoes started from seed. It's called Hillbilly Potato Leaf:

My weedy red lettuce:

I have two asparagus plants coming up. I forget the variety, but it's the one that's all male:

In a sunny corner by the house, I have lavender (Hidcote, Munstead, and Provence), garlic, and yarrow all cozied up together:

The largest plant right now in my medicinal herb garden is my elecampane. I love the undersides of the large leaves, they're soft and textured:

Here they are from above. these are second-year plants. I'll harvest their roots in the fall:

These happy violas sit on our patio table. They were a gift from a neighbor:

Here's to half-wild gardens, always almost native!

We must appease the flood gods

I need to find a sacrifice that will appease the flood gods. It's a good thing we replanted our community plot in raised rows and mounds:

Ours is not the only flooded plot. There are several, the one to the left of ours has even more water:

Our Lima beans have sprouted and are up out of the floodplain:

Some lemon cucumbers have sprouted:

And some zucchini squash:

We even have a rogue squash that came up between mounds. Someone must have dropped a seed:

Our corn is coming up, but we didn't get a close-up pic. The tomatoes and the peppers that are still alive continue each day in survival mode and not growth mode. They are the same size they were when I planted them over a month ago. But the carrots are growing. And here is a moth that my daughter caught in a photo:

I'll have to post some pictures of my other gardens. I'm particularly proud of my 21 (!) potato plants.

Finally! Wintergreen!

I've been searching the wilds for wintergreen plants for a couple of years now. I haven't had any luck. This year I broke down and ordered some from a nursery. I placed the order at the end of winter, but they wouldn't ship until this month.

A couple of weeks ago, I was informed by the nursery that their wintergreen wasn't doing very well. I thought that my search for wintergreen would have to continue, but today I received two wintergreen plants in the mail!! They were a smaller size than the ones I ordered, but I was credited the difference in price.

Here is one of my wintergreen plants in its new home, I'm so excited!:

While out snapping pictures of the wintergreen, I noticed that my weigelas are sporting more blossoms than the last time I looked. I have two kinds of weigela - don't ask me what their names are, I don't remember. I just think of them as the light ones and the dark ones.

Here is a sample of the light one with its light, variegated foliage against pretty, dusty-pink flowers:

And here is the darker one, with its bolder foliage and darker blossoms:


I also have a rare cat plant sprouting from a pot on my porch:

Here's a shot of the two weigelas together:

The cat plant is very hardy and this particular variety is dog-resistant:

Happy gardening!

Let the Gardening commence

Over the weekend my husband and I tilled up the two garden plots in our back yard. One plot is for herbs and the other is mostly for veggies, but will also have some herbs. This morning I planted some lettuce, spinach, and five-color Swiss chard. They don't mind a bit of cold weather and can be sown early.

I don't have any pictures of either of those plots yet, but I did snap a picture of the community gardens, which are a three minute walk away. I will have a 10' x 20' plot in these gardens this year:


The ugly orange fencing is meant to keep the deer out. There are plenty of other critters around too, voles and rabbits, to name a couple. This is the third year of the community gardens. I walk past them everyday with the dog and over the past two seasons, it looks like the critters have left things alone. I hope this year isn't the year they suddenly discover the fresh veggie stand not five yards from some of their burrows.


My plot is somewhere right in the foreground in the picture below. You can see the old barn from the farm that used to be here in the background. They haven't put up the stakes marking each plot yet, and planting season is still a few weeks off. We have to wait until about mid-May until the last freeze has passed:

Once it's safe to plant, I'll use this plot for veggies.

On the way back to the house from our walk, my daughter and I spotted a little snake. It looks big in the picture, only because it's a zoomed-in shot. The little guy (or gal) was only about the size of a pencil in both circumference and length:

Maybe it'll grow big eating voles and keep them out of my garden.

Of Amish and Costa Rican Cloud Forests

While my mother was visiting we saw many interesting things in the area. I've put up a few pictures of two of the places we went. The first set of pictures is from the botanical gardens in Cleveland . The second set of pictures is from our visit to the Amish country here in Ohio.

Step into the jungle:


There were lots of butterflies in the cloud forest, this one was a mesmerizing blue when it opened its wings:

Two of the butterflies loved my mom:

Orchids bloomed everywhere:

And lots of other colorful flowers:

It was misty, hot and humid in the cloud forest:

The Amish country was a bit different. The Amish are a religious order that came here from Germany. They eschew modern technology and live simply without mechanization and things like electricity. Here's how they get around:

This is a typical Amish farmstead. There is often more than one house close together. When Children grow up and marry, they take over the large house and a smaller one is built for Grandma and Grandpa:

The women wear their hair up and a bonnet over that. Bonnets are stored over cans so that the backs stay flat:

Here is a kitchen garden kept near the house:

Farm buildings:

This is a pie safe that is inside a home that you can tour which was built in 1866. Hot pies are placed in the pie safe and they cool down inside. The holes in the tin front are for circulation:

The buggies are on the roadways so motorists have to take care in the Amish country:

Here's an Amish man (dark clothing, straw hat) selling handmade baskets on the roadside:

A team of workhorses plowing a field (I took this picture as we drove past - hence only the horses and not the plowman and his plow):

And those are just two of the places we visited during my mom's stay. We had lots of fun!