We’re keeping a close eye on the weather these days as we hope to sow our crop of flax within the next few weeks. We learned a lot about seeds in our first year of growing flax. The variety we planted grew into a shorter, bushier type of flax plant more suited to producing seeds and oil. Every year since, we’ve planted varieties called Avian and Lisette. These plants are ideally suited to the climate here in Northern Ireland and the tall stems yield fibre that is perfect for textiles. Ideally we want stems to be longer than one metre.
We use a traditional tool called a fiddle to distribute the seeds over the soil. The bow is moved from side to side just like the musical instrument. We've tried a few different methods of sowing flax seed over the years and have found the good old fiddle to be the most effective.
