The Bloom is Off the Linen Flax

and the 30-day countdown begins!

I visited the Gale Woods Farm flax plot last Friday, July 19, and found the blooms essentially done. There were only a handful of flowers in bloom and multiple capsules. (The capsules are the “ovaries” left behind after the bloom. These capsules contain flax seeds that may be rippled [removed] when the stalks are fully mature, harvested, and dried. They may also be left in the field on some unharvested stalks to mature even further, and those can be used for next year's sowing.)

Based on what I saw when I last visited the plot on July 11th and the state of the bloom on the 19th, I am calling July 15th to be the height of the bloom (69 days since the initial sowing) and the date to begin the 30-day waiting period before harvesting. After 30 days, so around August 15th, the stalks should be fully matured, and the harvest may begin. This is right in the ballpark with the 100-day maturation expectation for linen flax, counting from the sowing date to the harvest date.

But there is always something to discover when I visit the plot. This time, I noticed that the plot had a “visitor” who went through the center of the 4-foot-wide plot and lodged several of the center stalks. 

Unless it was a very precise downdraft of wind, the visitor was most likely a rabbit, raccoon, or some sort of small to medium-sized critter that wandered through the plot. At this stage, the stalks shouldn't be affected by such lodging, so we will let them lay as they are. Hopefully, that will be the only intruder in the plot by mid-August, when harvesting will begin!

The Height of the Bloom

I need to catch up on updating the blog! 

I visited the Gale Woods Farm linen flax plot last Thursday, July 11th, and found it in full bloom! You could definitely see it from the road this time, even though the flowers are quite small—about the size of a quarter.

This plot is a pollinating wonder! I shot a video to show the action. Turn up your volume to hear the hum of the bumblebees swarming around each flower!

This rogue weed/flower (I believe it is called Hairy Vetch) has popped up in the middle of the plot. It is quite pretty against the blue flax flowers, even if unwanted in the crop. 

Here, you can see how densely the flax was sown and how successful a dense sowing is for the health of the plot. The stalks have had no problem reaching full height, which they are essentially at now, even in such tight quarters!

Look at this gorgeous flower that will only survive for a few hours! I hope you visited the plot in the past couple of weeks since the blooms will soon be gone if they aren't already. 

When the plot reaches its maximum blooming phase, the countdown begins for setting the harvest date. I plan to revisit the plot later this week to see if there are fewer blooms and if we might enter that 30-day waiting period before the harvest.

A Blooming Good Time!

I don't have much to update you on the Gale Woods Linen Flax crop except to say... it's blooming like crazy! Since rain was forecast every day for the next week, I dropped by the farm on what was to be the sunniest day (this past Wednesday, July 3) to see how the blooms were coming along. 

There are so many blooms and so many buds about to flower! 

The height of most of the stalks is now over 3 feet.

Since it was a beautiful day and there wasn't much to report from Gale Woods Farm this week besides the blooms, I stopped by the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Look who greeted me on one of the back paths! A giant, ancient tortoise! The moss on his back is fantastic!