Moving out of the city a few months ago has brought a big advantage: I finally have an own garden for growing flax! I think this year is gonna be very interesting though. The soil is sandy here, just like at the Nederlands Openlucht Museum where I farmed flax within The Linen Project the past two years. Additionally, the seeds I (still) have are now a good 2 years old. I decided that besides their age, I’m going to use them. Farming flax myself is one big experiment after all. I am not sure yet wether I am going to use the seeds I harvested from my own field in Germany in 2019. For now this is how I see things developing around the house this year.

As you can see, one field faces south-east, meaning these plants will have a lot of sunlight, which they love. On the other hand, I will make another field in the shade just behind the house. I am really curious how big the difference between them will be. I know that flax should never be grown in the shade – but what if you don’t have any other options? The risks are that the flax grows too thin, or too weak and therefore the fibre quality and yield is much lower or zero at all. I am really looking forward to this experiment in spring and to be able to compare the situations. The settings aren’t ideal, the soil is sandy and the seeds are old, but why not try?

I’ll keep you updated about the progress. I hope I can actually do this experiment and we don’t need to leave the house before that time. Fingers crossed.