Somewhere in autumn, I can’t remember whether early or late, I weeded one of my old vegetable beds and dug in all the compost from one of our four compost bins. The bed is six metres long and 1.2 metres wide. Adele, our puppy, helped in her own way, snuffling through the freshly turned earth, probably smelling the large, fat earthworms.
I covered the bed completely with straw and left it for winter, turning the soil a little now and then over the following months.
This morning there were only a few weeds to pull out. And now, in early November, I have planted my first proper dye garden.
I divided the length roughly into three: ten madder plants at one end, then weld, then indigo. For the weld and indigo, I pulled back the straw, exposed the soil and scattered the seeds, about a hundred weld seeds and fifty indigo. As I write, I still need to water them in.
It is a magnificent day. Huge cumulonimbus clouds are rolling over Emerald, with beautiful sunshine between them. The soil is warm; the nights are still cold, but without frost. Iris is asleep beside the bed, and butterflies are moving through the garden.
I’m looking forward to seeing what comes up, and eventually discovering the colours I can grow here for my yarn.
It has been about a year since I last wrote on this blog. A bed prepared in autumn and planted in spring feels like a good place to start again.
