Hello!
Remember the woad seeds I sowed in June? I received them as part of a project aimed at using more local wool and dyeing it with local dye stuffs too. That seemed like an interesting idea and woad can give a beautiful blue colour, so I thought I’d give it a try on a small scale.
Now, 3 months after the start of my woad adventure, it’s high time for an update. It’s not all good news I’m afraid. At first everything went well. Most of the seeds germinated and I had a number of really healthy looking plants (photo above). I planted them out around mid-July. Half of them in a sunny spot next to our garden shed, and the other half behind a big rose bush.
Below you can see the plants several days after planting them out. Already, things were not looking good at all.
Wonderful experiment with disappointing but still useful results. I love the colour of the combined batches of the merino/silk blend. Looking forward to seeing the finished knitted project from your spun wool.
We also tried relocating the local slugs who treat the garden as their personal salad bar, however, many more have taken up residence in their place.
Haha, it’s a never-ending story, this slug story. It’s good to ‘see’ you again, Wendy! I hope your house spared during the terrible floodings in June.
You could try sprinkling crushed eggs shells round those plants which need protecting from slugs. Opinion seems to be a bit divided on effectiveness. The only alternative is, of course, plants which slugs don’t like so act as a deterrent. We like geraniums. Lavender is another possible. Good luck. They are really horrid things, aren’t they, but the birds seem to enjoy them. Liz
Thanks for the tips. I’ve given up on the woad for this year, but might try again with better anti-slug measures next time around.