For anyone growing/living in Croydon - saffron corms

[sparrow100]

The Croydon Saffron Farm was a pop-up, crowdfunded saffron farm in the middle of Croydon, on a derelict building site. It is now being 'decentralised'. The 20,000 corms are being given away to community gardens, parks, community plots, etc in the 24 wards. They are all in pots, so are easy to move.

I've just spent the best day loading cars & vans with trays of saffron plants, but there are more than half left.

If you want more info, or to get some corms for your group, either look up Croydon Saffron Central on Facebook, #SaffronCentral on Twitter or PM me for the project manager's email address.

[ancee]

Oh how lovely! What a shame they've destroyed it though. Your own saffron would be wonderful, I love the stuff, but it's soooooo expensive to buy

[sparrow100]

It's not destroyed - the intention was always to use it as a way to get more people in the borough interested in growing it and to share out the corms at the end of the year. I hope they get permission to stay for another year and do something else. I don't think the site is going to be built on this year.

I definitely recommend growing saffron if you have the space for it. I love the taste of homegrown saffron, and it pays for itself in just a couple of years...

[sparrow100]

There's an app being built now which displays all the public sites now growing saffron in the borough, like a saffron trail.

[Zelenina]

It's not destroyed - the intention was always to use it as a way to get more people in the borough interested in growing it and to share out the corms at the end of the year.

What a lovely project! If I still lived in Surrey I'd have some, but I moved away a long time ago.

[mrose]

This is so exciting! I've been wanting to grow saffron for ages.

[sparrow100]

If you don't live in Croydon, it's not that expensive to buy corms. If you get them from a good supplier (I got mine from Suttons) they will be big enough to flower in their first year. It's about £15 for 60 bulbs and they multiply quickly.

It's one of my favourite things to grow.

[ancee]

It's not destroyed - the intention was always to use it as a way to get more people in the borough interested in growing it and to share out the corms at the end of the year. I hope they get permission to stay for another year and do something else. I don't think the site is going to be built on this year.

I definitely recommend growing saffron if you have the space for it. I love the taste of homegrown saffron, and it pays for itself in just a couple of years...

Oh I see. What a lovely communal thing to do. When you grow your own, and once they have flowered do the leaves stay like normal crocus or do they die down once the flowers have finished? Just wondered what you'd put in the spot as well to avoid a bare patch of soil once the flowers and saffron are over.
Also, is it easy to dry and store? I bet your house smells lovely when it's drying, I love the smell every time I take the lid off the tub

[sparrow100]

The leaves grow really long, mine flop over and look like a bed of green ponytails! They die off in April-June and vanish completely. Under the ground they are busy multiplying & bulking up, so need feeding right after flowering.

I don't have anything else in the saffron bed. The corms need to be hot and dryish over summer, so anything that would need watering will encourage rot. Plus you have to be able to dig them up to divede them every few years. I dry the saffron between sheets of kitchen roll - it does smell lovely, but 150-odd flowers only equals about 1g dried weight...