Lavender not only has a great smell and color, but it also serves numerous medicinal and health purposes. Many people think growing lavender is difficult, but it’s actually a fairly low maintenance plant.
If you know what environment is best for lavender and what situations to avoid, then it shouldn’t be a problem at all! Here are a few great tips to help make growing lavender a cinch!
Tips For Growing Lavender
Outdoors
If you are growing lavender in a garden, make sure to space the plants 12 to 18 inches apart. Also, make sure the spot is in full sun. The soil needs to be aerated and well-drained because dampness is not good for lavender.
In Pots
If you are growing your lavender in pots, cover the bottom two inches with Styrofoam peanuts or gravel. This will help make draining easier so the lavender does not become diseased or damaged. Plant one lavender per pot and keep it at the center.
White Pebbles
Some people like to place white pebbles around the base of the lavender plant. This is great for decoration, but it also helps reflect heat onto the plant and keeps it dry. Lavender thrives in hot conditions, so this helps keep the temperature high around the plant.
Watering Lavender
Only water your lavender when the soil is dry to the touch. As mentioned before, damp soil is very bad for lavender, so you don’t want to over-water. However, under-watering can cause fungus and disease to grow.
Indoors
If your lavender is in a pot then this is easy, but if it’s immobile in the garden, just make sure that the plant is seeing at least 8 hours of sun a day. Lavender needs heat and light to grow strong and healthy, so this is a vital step in producing good lavender.
Trimming
Make sure the lavender doesn’t get overcrowded with stems or bulbs. If it’s looking bushy, don’t be afraid to trim around the edges and keep the best stems exposed to as much sunlight as possible. You should only need to prune lavender about once a year, but trimming may be repeated when necessary.
Mulch
Keeping the lavender warm and warding off weeds is helpful in growing good lavender. A simple solution to this is using a thin layer of sand as mulch. It not only chokes out weeds, but keeps the lavender roots warm and insulated.
Harvesting Your Lavender
When you’ve harvested your lavender, make sure to store it in dry bundles. It’s best to store them in warm, dark spaces and hang them upside down. After about 10 to 14 days they will be ready to be used for whatever you want!
Lavender has health benefits. To see the benefits of lavender and other herbs, see my common herbs list.
I am trying to grow lavender for the first time..Thanks for the information…wish me luck!!!
Beautiful garden. Something about lavender oh so beautiful. Thanks for sharing!
This is my next project. Glad I see this.
What growing zone? Are these perennial?
Hello! Im trying to grow lavender for the first time as well and having some trouble. I put two plants on opposit ends of a long garden. One end gets less than four hours direct sunlight and the soil is constantly moist. The other plant at the other end gets twelves or so hours of direct sunlight a day and the soil dries out by the end of each day and that lavender plant droops heavily. The entire garden is watered thoroughly each night and in the morning the plant on the sunny end has perked back up. By the end of the day, however, it has wilted again. The lavender plant in the moist and shady soil is growing very well. Or at least it looks that way.
Im assuming the one in the sun is just getting too much sun, yes? Should I move them both maybe? I dont want the one that is growing well in the shade to succumb to some disease because the soil is too moist. Any advice would be much appriciated.
Read tips and tricks for growing lavender on this site..Lavender is native to Italy and Greece, hot Mediterranean climates. They need full sun, not too much water, and very little fertiliser..in the wild they grow on hot dry hillsides and only rain for water. Good luck with your plants! You can dry the stems of flowers to use in your lingerie drawers!
Can it be grown indoors?
Is there a trick to growing them from seed?
I have a waterwise garden on the West Coast in South Africa. It has a Mediterranean climate with minimal rain. As we have water restrictions and no watering is allowed, will my lavender survive?
Hopefully this can help answer your question!
https://www.purpleadobelavenderfarm.com/id56.html
If you are growing lavender to dry, you should cut you the stems while they are still buds. Before the flowers
actually bloom. It is more fragrant that way and is better for using in dried flower arrangements. Also it is better for using in sachets.
Do deer like lavender? We live on a farm in Texas and we have deer year round that invade my flower beds. I want to try lavender. Thanks.
Hey Wanda!
I did some research, and it appears that lavender is “stinky” to deer, and they like to avoid it whenever possible. Here’s a link for you! https://www.almanac.com/content/deer-resistant-plants
I’ve had lavender plants in large pots on my sunny back patio for about 3 years now, However last year it didn’t so as well and this year hasn’t come back at all. They get full sun all day and I only water them when they are very dry,about every 7-10 days, unless it’s rained, then no watering from me! There is only one plant in each pot, so I don’t think they’re rootbound. Any suggestions? Thanks!!
I would consider transplanting into either the ground or replacing the soil. If it’s been long enough in the same pot/container, the soil could be deprived of all of the nutrients the lavender needs.
Hi! I have a sunroom with a southern exposure in central New Jersey. Can I grow lavender in containers in my sunroom? The sunroom is not insulated, so it is very hot on summer days and very cold winter nights. Thanks so much!
Meredith, I would think you could! I would be worried about the cold/ hot drafts, though. You may have to use supplemental lighting to keep them warm in the winter. Best of luck!
Hi Joy, i grow english lavender in a pot last year, i cut it back in the late fall and put in in my shed. Do have any suggestions on what care it needs now that spring is here, should i put it out and see what happens?