This summer a friend of mine who owns a small goat herd has decided to add making goat soap to her incredibly busy schedule and she was telling me of her plans. She has the goat milk and was making a list of several other things she said she needed.
With my herb gardens going strong, though weedy, I told her I could supply her with many herbs and herbal essential oils and I had a great supply of lavender blossoms from the 2007 pickings. Thus I was able to give her several things on her list and I was able to get them out of my pantry.
As I was surveying my lavender beds this summer I was able to determine that the English lavender bushes at the west end of the house are still going strong since I planted them in 1999. I need to prune out any dry branches that die off each year, and I faithfully do, but all in all, these two large bushes are holding their own. Though these plants were labeled English Lavender I really think they are Provence Lavender as they have long, slender flower wands that make collecting the buds come easily and cleanly away from the stalk.
These lavender bushes get a great deal of intense sun and though the soil in that area was heavy with clay, I amended it with lots of gravel and some sand to loosen up the soil and give it the ability to drain a lot better than the clay soil of our zone 6 in Kentucky does.
Out in the Mediterranean herb beds which are in the South part of our gardens the story is different. In the year of 2000 I planted about 1,000 lavender seeds in our greenhouse which included English, Hidcote, Hidcote Pink and Munstead. Of the 1,000 lavender seeds only about 100 ever became about four inches high. After I was able to harden these plants they went out in the late spring to the herb beds and though these lavenders are hardy to zone 5, we have very mild winters and since the others were hale and hearty I figured these would also. Well, think again, Correll, because for whatever reason only about ten or twelve of these have survived and they are exotically fragrant and I rarely pay any attention to them.
I found there were drawbacks to starting lavender from seed as they have a short shelf life and the germination rate was pretty low as I stated. Plus it seemed to take a long time for the seeds to sprout and I learned that this invites fungus to the seed trays and I know that is probably what happened to my seeds because they probably rotted before they could sprout. Then I think I put the sprouted plants out too soon as they should have had upwards of three months for root growth in order for them to have a successful transplanting. Since then I have learned that Hidcote is not as drought or heat tolerant as the other lavenders and that may have been the cause of them not surviving. Lavender does not tolerate wet or humid conditions.
"Tread the Earth Lightly" and in the meantime May your day be filled with Peace, Light and Love,
Author's note: This article was originally written for GreenThumbArticles.com
