My first dyeplant bed - part one

This year I was determined to do some natural dyeing with fresh plants I'd grown myself. You may recall that I did make a start on the plants with some woad the year before last but I didn't cut any for dyeing as I wanted it to seed so I'd have more to work with. Sure enough it flowered and seeded last year and I have several small plants popping up in the front borders. I still can't quite bear to pick them though, so I may wait until the patch is a bit more established so I'll have more to work with (I think I might just have enough for a hankie so far!).

Buoyed with this success a dear friend of my Mum's offered to grow some plants from seed for me but first I needed somewhere to put them....

So the boys (I know you can only see one, the other one snuck off!) got to work building a dyebed....

Luckily I had had the foresight to create a suitable space (!)

The spade marks the spot....

And for a slightly less flattering version...

And here's one of Pete just because I think he looks fab in this pic   : )

Oh, and this is what happened to the other one, clearly exhausted with all the hard work...

Coming next - some dyeplants.....