Dye garden through the summer to autumn 2022

The dye garden has grown beautifully this year, from spring, throughout the summer, despite the draught, the hard sun and the wind. Thanks to the irrigation system, the small water drops timed in the night, kept the plants hydrated and helped them to grow healthily.

The Japanese Indigo has especially done well, from 3 small seedlings grown from seeds, themselves from last year harvest.

Japanese Indigo plants early summer
Japanese Indigo leaves end of summer

We were able to harvest the Japanese Indigo leaves from early July to October and still a bit in November even when the plant started to turn into flowers.

Milk fabric dyed with fresh indigo leaves
Dyeing with fresh Japanese Indigo leaves with a pinch of salt
Extracting pigment from Japanese Indigo leaves
Getting the last of the Japanese Indigo leaves in November
Japanese Indigo in flowers
Fresh woad extraction
Woad
Fabric samples dyeing in marigold
Harvesting camomille
Madder plants
Coreopsis flowers
Sumac tree
Rhubarb

We harvested flowers to dry that can be used later for dyeing and seeds for the next season.