Planting Lavender
With all its attributes and benefits, plus this handy guide, why wouldn't you plant lavender?
HOMESTEADING
4/2/20232 min read
Although it's still early to be planting new lavender plants, it is the perfect time to be planning out your new low maintenance landscape. Use the sunny days to look at your plot while the weeds still haven't overtaken empty spaces in the yard or on the hillsides typically feared by riding mowers in the summer. Lavender is a great accent to any landscape, providing a long duration color display during the summer, and requires very little maintenance or water.
Local Considerations
First let's get local, in Lewis County the absolute earliest time to safely plant direct to ground is two weeks following our last frost. We have dialed our earliest planting days to the second week of May, however the least risky time has seemed to be the end of May. This still gives you plenty of time for the lavender to receive enough water to its new root system and have a chance for decent root growth before the dry summer months. Remember in Western WA, April showers, bring May showers, and bring come June showers too...
Picking the Location
Find an area that you want low maintenance plants that is in full sun. Typically the areas that your grass normally dies or nothing else grows are perfect for lavenders. If you have an irrigated yard avoid areas that are irrigated daily, turn off the circuit to that area or shunt the supply, you won’t need it and it can actually stunt your plant's growth and even kill them. It is possible to kill lavender with kindness. Avoid planters, the smallest planter we recommend would be a half wine barrel for one plant. This allows plenty of insulation between the roots and freezing temperatures.
Preparing the Area
The soil should ideally land around 6-8, for us local to the Big Bottom, we most likely will need to add some lime. Soil modification takes time, throw the lime down now to get a jump.
To avoid clearing grasses and weeds inside the plants, use a good ground cover or weed barrier.
Lavender loves heat, consider a washed drain rock as a decorative dressing in the area, avoid barks or mulches-these holds moisture and does not promote good air circulation at the bases of the plants.
Plan for spacing of 36" for the larger varieties, or 18" for smaller. They will fill together after about 3 years.
Following these planning ideas, you should be able to enjoy many years of vibrant low maintenance displays that also can be used for recipes and beautiful floral decorations.
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