My new dye bed

See that strip of yellow? Yes, dead grass, and I know some people (you know who you are too) are wrinkling their noses at me, but I need all the help I can get battling grass and weeds at the moment. Sorry….

Right now the ground is like concrete, but once the autumn rains begin, I’m thinking I can dig up that turf, make a nice edge, till the earth and next summer add some better material to plant in and put my dye plants here. Actually I need a place to put my strawberries as well, so I may have a lot of digging to do.

I already have weld, woad and dyer’s chamomile in my not-to-be vegetable garden. I meant it to be, but as hard as it is to battle weeds on a field of clay previously used for grain, it becomes impossible when a ton of thistle seeds are accidentally blown into the place covering it like a BLANKET, no kidding, it just becomes impossible. The mice ruin my new plum trees. So I have a few berry bushes in there, use the space as a tree nursery from time to time and to heck with it.

So my new plant list so far is (yes, I’ve been through “A Dyer’s Garden” for inspiration), it may change before spring:

  • Coreopsis tinctoria – I love how you can get both orange and yellow from this in the same dyebath and how little plant material is needed. Instant gratification!
  • Weld – Reseda luteola
  • Dyer’s Chamomile – Anthemis tinctoria
  • Telekia
  • Japanese indigo?
  • St. John’s Wort – Hypericum perforatum
  • Marjoram – origanum majorana
  • Bronze fennel – Foeniculum vulgare
  • Purple basil
  • Hollyhock?
  • Black eyed susan – Rudbeckia fulgida
  • Marigold – tagetes
  • Comfrey – symphytum

Goldenrod and tansy and purple loosestrife I can find in the forest. Others I already have on various parts of the property (10 acres).

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Farvebed

Jeg mÃ¥ desværre tage “det gule hakkejern” til hjælp i øjeblikket hvis jeg skal nÃ¥ haveopgaverne, sÃ¥ her har jeg gjort klar til mit forhÃ¥bentlig nye farvebed som jeg vil grave op og klargøre nÃ¥r vi fÃ¥r lidt vand til jorden, den er som beton lige nu. Et udmærket efterÃ¥rsprojekt?

Min køkkenhave, hvor den slags ellers skulle foregÃ¥, blev desværre overblæst med tidselfrø fra grønthøsteren, et tykt tæppe, sÃ¥ nu har jeg opgivet, der bor et par solbærbuske som med nød og næppe kan findes frem hver sommer….

Planteliste:

  • Coreopsis tinctoria – skønhedsøje. Orange og gul fra samme farvebad og masser af krudt i!
  • Anthemis tinctoria – farvegÃ¥seurt
  • Reseda luteola – Vau
  • Telekia – tusindstrÃ¥le
  • Japansk indigo?
  • Symphytum – kulsukker
  • Hypericum perforatum – sankthansurt
  • Havemerian – Origanum majorana
  • Bronzefennikel – Foeniculum vulgare
  • Sort stokrose
  • Rudbeckia fulgida – solhat
  • Tagetes

Garden tour through the seasons

Just a few snapshots from around the place through the 10 years we’ve been here.

Vidste du, at man kan kommentere min blog uden at være wordpress medlem? Bare udfyld navn er nok. Det er så hyggeligt med dialog fremfor monolog!

Those acorns!!

I’m not seeing any acorn reports people!
Walk in the forest today, there are also no chestnuts this year and hardly any of the Alder catkins I wanted to dye with. I guess those have to be scheduled for 2013…

Meet the critters

This really has nothing to do with art or yarn, but since they’ve been such a big part of my life, I thought I’d introduce the inhabitants of this farm, my bestest friends in any weather, giving me much joy and much heartache.

Too many of them have passed in the last couple of years, so actually this is more like a memorial page. But so be it. Life at the moment is such that those who are gone have not been replaced….

Max

My baby. First and closest for nearly 12 years. He’s gone now this June and I don’t know if that chunk of my heart will ever grow back…. He will most likely appear in photos from around the place more than once, since he never left my side unless locked behind a door, and then he’d shout and whine until I let him back out. Or in. My sweet, giant puppy who thought he could fit in my lap… Rottweiler/Labrador mix.

Also known as Max Motor, Maxmeister, Maxenheimer, Maximax, Maximouse, Porridge Head, Ouchgeeroffofmyfoot!, Teddybear.

Continue reading “Meet the critters”

Little hedges


For a few years one end of our property (and the neighbours’) have been flooded in winter due to clogged drains in the fields. Most have been fixed, but eventually most of our hedges way up in the garden died because they were standing with their feet in the water followed by two very frosty winters.
So this summer we’re working on a new drain all the way from the garden to the low end of the farm where the big new drain is running. No point in getting a new hedge if the garden is a swamp 6 months out of 12! But the garden is much too windy without one. A hedge that is.

It’ll probably be a couple of years (they say) before we see the actual effect, so in the mean time I’ve decided to make new hedges, using what we already have, spiraea and ribes. For the lilacs I’ll have to see if any of them have sent out shoots that I can dig up and nurse a bit in a pot. I think I’m a bit late in the season to use cuttings?

Now only remains to be seen if I can actually remember to nurse them all through the winter…. At least if we don’t get frost, I have a self-watering greenhouse!

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Temporary home while the digger recuperates