Last Updated on February 19, 2024 by Jason Nguyen
If you haven’t heard about lavender, you might just be living under a rock. Lavender is well-known all around the globe for its beauty, fragrance, and medicinal properties. If you are looking for a plant to add to your summer garden, there is nothing better than lavenders.
With their beauty and fragrance in your garden, you are bound to earn compliments left and right. But growing them is not as easy as you might think.
They do need some special love and care to grow and saturate you with its exquisiteness and aroma. If you are already disheartened, don’t be. We are here to help.
Here are 7 tips that will help you grow lavender and enjoy its bounty in your garden.
Read: Types of lavender
1. Loads of sunlight
Being a Mediterranean herb, lavender needs at least 6-8 hours of sun every day. If you want your lavender garden to thrive, ensure that they get an uninterrupted supply of direct sunlight throughout the day.
2. Do not overwater
One of the most common mistakes that people often make while growing lavender is overwatering. Lavender needs very less water to grow and thrive.
If you water them more than needed, your plant will definitely die. All your lavender plants’ need is a deep watering every 7 to 8 days. If your climate is extremely dry, you can try a light watering in between but ensure that you do not overwater.
3. Protect it from harsh wind
Another crucial step in growing a lavender garden is to keep it protected from the harsh wind. Lavender plants are quite sensitive and need to be sheltered.
If your lavender is left in the open, unprotected from the unforgiving wind, it will die.
4. Check your soil’s pH level
Lavender plants grow in soil that is alkaline in nature, which means you need your soil to have the pH value in between 6.7 to 7.3. Get a commercial pH test probe and check your soil before planting.
If your soil does not meet the requirement, you can try to increase its alkaline content. WikiHow recommends adding a little lime to your soil to increase its pH level. You can check the details here.
5. Provide adequate drainage
If you want to know who lavender’s arch nemesis is, your answer is dampness. Lavender absolutely hates damp soil and will die if not secured with proper drainage.
So, make sure that your soil is well-drained, light, and well-aerated. You can add a little silica sand to your soil as it works wonders in drainage.
6. Choose the right type
There are numerous species of lavender available and buying one blindly will definitely not help. Different types of lavenders grow in different regions and climatic conditions.
A friendly visit to the local nursery will help you decide on the type that will work best in your location. Moreover, you need to decide whether you want to plant seeds or use baby plants.
If you are new to the gardening business and are growing lavenders for the first time, try to avoid going for the seeds. They might be too complicated and daunting for you. Check out this link to know more about how to choose your lavender.
7. Give it space
Just like us, lavender likes its space. Do not plant two plants too close to each other. They need good air circulation to grow and thrive. You need to leave at least 35 inches of space before planting the next one. Weeds are known to grow in between the plants and can suppress their growth. You need to prevent them from growing. One of the things that you can do is to add a thin layer of mulch around the base of your lavender plant. It will prevent weeds as well as protect your lavender from winter frost.
Conclusion:
Once you have done all the hard work, do not forget to harvest the lavender flowers. Just as the flower stems start to open, cut them from the base. You can prune the remaining plants so that they can grow again the next season. You can easily dry out your lavender blooms and preserve them for later usage. Most importantly, do not forget to enjoy the beauty and fragrance of your lavender garden.
