Can We Grow Flax For Creative Community Pursuits In A Front Garden? The Ultimate Derbyshire Test
My recent venture into growing flax in my front garden for fibre for creative community projects has been a journey of discovery. The plant's elegance, delicate blue flowers, and towering stature have left me in awe. It's not just a plant; it's a work of art, and it's proven to be a hardy and resilient partner in my gardening-creating experiment.
But can it withstand Derbyshire's ultimate community collaborative growing experiment with little horticultural care in a former mine region and a domestic front garden (and its owner/manager/mummy temporarily in Australia)?
Growing Targets
Just as a brief aide memoire my aims were to:Â
Understand the growing, harvesting and processing of the flax plants into fibres.
Enjoy playing and experimenting with how the fibres can be featured in my own and (eventually) collaborative community arts.
Having been instructed that flax was a friendly little plant that was happy to germinate from seed straight into the soil, I entered the growing arena without fear. This flax characteristic was a massive benefit for the novice gardener I am, as the posted seeds were lovingly (but hastily) poked into the poor clay-ridden soil of my Derbyshire front garden in between rain showers. The earth here tends to yield building debris from the estate construction and pieces of coal, being a former mining community. I did not make the conditions easy for my seed flax babies.
My divoted cane channels soon shone, with beautiful, shiny new green shoots standing soldier-like in the lines they had been sewn in. It was an absolute joy to see them grow and thrive.
A slight modification in the plan has made me bound for Australia. I have set my seeds for the ultimate arms-length growing test, as they are now monitored by kind peeps who have volunteered to help. I'm hopeful that this blip will show how easy these plants are to grow (and ultimately process) —and grow they have. The flax plants dominate the front garden, standing yellow-green golden and proud in what has always been a 'cottage-style' planting design.
The house's previous owners had merely thrown weed killer at the plot periodically to get rid of the thistles. These plants still appear (hardly little buggers that they are), but they seem to make happy neighbours to their new flax community members. So (and I confess), little weeding has occurred, as the experts I consulted recommended. I hang my head in shame. In my defence, this is proving to be a 'real world' experiment with no weeding, feeding, thinning or watering.
To Thin, Or Not To Thin? That Could Be The Undoing
The 'thinning' might be a step that I shouldn't have overlooked. Regarding spacing, it is recommended that when growing, you should allow at least 12 inches between each plant to ensure adequate air circulation and prevent diseases. However, my flax babies have had a lot of sunlight as the garden chosen is not in shadow, and as a bonus, Mother Nature has deluged them with water. I do wonder how big a flax plant should be in terms of girth and height if it has lots of space and is tendered by more dedicated hands. Hey ho! Allons y! My future tea towel market domination is still on the cards. (I have been informed that every square metre of my plot can produce enough fibre to make a tea towel, which is around 200 grams of material if the plants grow properly.)
Assuming that my super survivors don't die, harvesting is the next step if I want fibres, leave it a bit longer to generate seed heads to harvest the golden seeds.
All decisions have yet to be made. I'll do both!
In conclusion, flax is definitely proving a fantastic addition to any garden, offering both aesthetic appeal and practical uses. Whether you're interested in producing flax fibre or reaping the health benefits of flaxseeds, growing flax is a rewarding and enjoyable experience for any creative (at the moment.)
TBC
