How to Grow and Harvest Lavender

DO YOU WANT TO KNOW HOW TO GROW AND HARVEST LAVENDER? COME FOLLOW US AND WE WILL TEACH THE WAYS!

One of the greatest smells on the planet is LAVENDER! It is calming, soothing, and those pretty purple flowers…..I’m just instantly in a better place when I see lavender.

Growing lavender can be easy if you give it all the right conditions. Down here in the humid south….we have the pleasure of this beautiful herb all year, if we treat it right!

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I have done so much research on lavender, because I don’t want to ruin it, but all it did was leave me more confused and even more scared to screw it up!

1 – Growing from plants

Everywhere I’ve read, starting lavender from seeds is next to impossible. Apparently, you can plant seeds and then wait for months before you see green. And then, it takes YEARS for the pretty flowers to come. NOPE!

Just go to The Home Depot and buy a plant. You can also use the current plant in your garden…more on that to come.

2 – Sunlight

Lavender LOVES the sun. LOVES it. Make sure you give it plenty of sun.

3 – Soil

Lavender needs well-ventilated, well-draining soil. Make sure you put plenty of absorbing soil near your plant. If you are able to put it directly into your yard, mix in some sand to increase the water drainage. If you are planting it in a pot, which is what I do, make sure there is a LOT of places for the water to drain out of the pot. You can also mix sand in your potting soil, or simply spread sand around the base of the plant.

4 – Daily care

Since it LOVES sunlight, you might be inclined to water it more often, BUT don’t! Once the plant is well-established, it only needs water once a week or so. A new plant might need it twice a week, but not much more.

Seems to easy….doesn’t it?? But that is it. It will grow with little attention.

5 – Harvesting

What do you do when we start to see those beautiful flowers?

This is important…..

Harvest your flowers when the buds are about half opened. In other words, part of the flower will be bright purple and the other will still be green.

You want to cut your stems early in the morning, the oil in the flowers are most concentrated. If you are looking for the great smells and propagating, this step is essential to your success.

Cut the stems about 1/3 up from the base of the plant. Be careful to only cut every other stem or so. If you trim too many stems, your plant will look too thin. But you want to harvest so the air can circulate around the plant.

6 – Storage

Once you have trimmed the desired stems, you can do several things:

• Dry them – wrap the bundle of freshly cut lavender with a rubber band or string. Hang them upside down in a dry, dark place. Like your attic or closet without windows.
• Let them dry on the bush – if you choose not to harvest when the flowers are still blooming and you wait until the flowers are starting to brown, you can still preserve the lovely smells. Simply trim as above and rub the flowers between your hands to release the “seeds.” Store these seeds in an air tight container and use the same as you would if you dried them yourself.

Interestingly enough, I have done both. And I just wait until the leaves start to brown to trim. If I’ve trimmed a stem that is still purple, I hang it. It’s really easy. AND the smells…..oh my!!!!

7 – Propagating

Like all propagating, choosing the right stem to start with is essential to the success of your next plant.

Pick a stem that does NOT have a bud. The blooms take a lot of energy from the plant, so if it has a bud, a root ball may not form.

You want to cut about 4 inches from the top of the stem. Just like most propagating, cut just below a leaf node. You will remove all the leaves on the bottom half of your clipping. On one side of the stem, scrape some of the skin off the stem.

I do NOT use rooting hormones. I don’t think it works and with proper care, plants shouldn’t need it. Up to you though.

Place your freshly skinned stem into a small pot with potting soil and mulch. I know it sounds strange but the ventilation and drainage that mulch provides is soooo important to the roots growth. You just stick the stem in the soil. Straight up and down. That is it!

It will take a few weeks, but you can tell your plant has a root by pulling on the stem. It should NOT come out of the soil. If it does….just push it back in and leave it longer. If you meet resistance, and it’s warm outside, plant it in his new home.

8 – What to do with lavender?

Oh the possibilities are endless.

Check out these ideas:

• The Nerdy Farm Wife has plenty of NON-edible ideas
• The Boulder Lacavore has some ingestible ideas here

Plus you could throw your dried lavender into a small sewn bag and mix it with rice to create a heating pad. I did this for Christmas gifts one year. Make sure you use long grain rice, otherwise you will cook the rice when warming it up. DON’T get these things wet either…..again, cooking of the rice! Making Lemonade uses essential oils in hers, but I find using the dry herb works just as well. Especially if you harvest when the oils are most potent.

Happy gardening,