How many of you like to try growing something new every year? I certainly do, although I think I've had more failures with my experiments than successes. This year I'm going to try growing Japanese Indigo (Persicaria tinctoria) and woad (Isatis tinctoria).
The key to why I chose them is the "tinctoria" which indicates a dye plant. In this case, both of these are used to produce the color blue. Blue isn't a color I can forage for, so these are a good choice for more dye experiments.
There is also a "true indigo" (Indigofera tinctoria), which I'd like try too. I believe it is the one usually for sold for fiber dying. But as long as I can get a nice blue color, I'll be happy.
Woad is said to like alkaline soil, so I added wood ashes from the kitchen cookstove to the soil, along with some compost. I'm curious as to how it will do. Both of them, really. It would be lovely for a blue dye plant to be dependable to grow here. I'd love to have a homegrown source for blue dye.
What about you? Are you growing something new in your garden this year?
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