Learning how to grow lavender isn’t hard but it does take a little bit of time. You’ll find some of the best tips here for growing lavender with ease. Your home will smell amazing in no time at all.
Fragrantly heady, intense smelling lavender, who doesn’t love the scent? And who doesn’t wish they could grow it as lush looking as the photos in gardening magazines, where row after row of lavender bushes are three feet across? Of course, that’s usually in France, right? Wrong. Lavender grows well almost anywhere.
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How To Grow Lavender
Don’t be hesitant to grow lavender, no matter where you live. I researched which lavenders would not only grow well in my area, but that comes back again next Spring.
What I discovered was I could grow the English lavenders, such as Hidcote and Munstead, but I wasn’t afraid at all to also try Woolly lavender, as I had a yearning to grow the French lavenders and Woolly stands out among the best with its gray leaves and tall spikes of dark purple flowers.
Tips for growing lavender
While researching how to plant lavender, you will find everyone has their own special tips, but all will agree, lavender needs well-drained soil and very little watering.
The importance of layering when planting lavender
A great tip to remember is layering. First, dig a hole about twelve inches deep. Place a layer of pea gravel, sand, soil, then plant your lavender plants, press more soil around them, and spread out more pea gravel or a few larger rocks if desired.
Giving lavender enough sunlight
Lavender also needs at least eight hours of full sun to grow well. Some who live in colder climates will plant their lavender in pots and bring them inside during the winter, but remember, it isn’t necessarily the cold that harms a lavender plant; it’s dampness.
Because lavender is a Mediterranean plant it prefers dry weather and too much dampness will cause mold to destroy their roots.
Mulch heavily during winter
Mulching heavily with straw during winter will protect the lavender if it’s been planted in a well-drained area, just remember to wait until your last frost in Spring to remove the straw cover.
Lavender also grows very well with roses even though roses need much more watering. These two classic plants present their hypnotic, romantic scents to everyone who passes by and brings to mind the English cottage gardens of yesterday.
What is lavender used for?
Lavender has been used for ages and was once used by Inns to clean the table before placing the dishes of food down. Lavender is still used to make little sachets to place under the bed pillow when you sleep to prevent insomnia.
Using lavender in baking
Lavender is also used a lot in baking, but if you decide to use lavender for your culinary skills, just be sure the lavender you plant is organic. You don’t want any pesticides in your baked goods.
There are so many varieties of lavender and so many uses from soaps, sachets, dried flowers, homemade teas to lavender sprays, and oils. So, don’t be afraid, go out and make your world a more scented one, plant lots of lavender, you’ll be glad you did.
As you can tell, there are many different uses for lavender in your everyday life. Instead of thinking about it as a plant that is limited, why not open up your home and look at all the ways that you can use it currently instead?
You just might find that once you learn how to grow lavender, you’ll also be amazed at how many ways you can use it daily, too.
