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Flax on the field?
Lauresham is always good for some interesting and exciting projects - and their most recent one is "A Year on the Field". This is about crops raised in historical times, and this year's crop is flax (linum usitatissimum).
For their project, Lauresham is looking for participants who have raised flax in the past years, or are joining in to grow it this year. Especially welcome are farmers, open-air museums, museums, or living history places - but they also look for scientists and crafters who work with linen and are willing to share their knowledge and insights.
You can learn more about the project (and get into contact) here.
Just in case you are wondering, I won't be joining in. My preferred gardening technique is "demented squirrel", as in "I put things in the ground and then forget about them". Flax is a crop that needs a minimum of care, or so I'm told, and, well... the tomatoes and woad and, this year, fuller's thistles that I am growing are more than enough for me to handle. I will be keeping an eye on the project, though, I find it is a wonderful idea!
Comments 3
I don't know how much care flax needs. Last year Sweden had a "grow a square meter of flax" project going on, and a couple of my friends, who live in apartment buildings, borrowed our yard to try growing flax. They planted it, and came back every few weeks to have a look, and, since they were there, do a little weeding, but that was the only care it received, and it grew, flowered, and they harvested it in the autumn.
Linum usitatissimum - is that Latin for Usefullest Linen? I am a big fan of the demented squirrel approach myself. This year I am trying to grow lots of self-seeding annuals so they can take over the sowing as well and I can stick to figuring out which seedlings are weedlings and pulling them out.
Yes, that is indeed the Most Useful Linen! I have to grin every time I read the latin name for it.
Self-seeding plants are high on the favourite list here, too, as are perennials that need little care. As for the weedlings... if they are not in direct competition to food I want to grow, they get to stay in our garden. If it's green, potentially blooming, and especially if insects are going for it, I'm happy to grant the plant a space.