Finally I got to spend time in the garden. Well not technically in the veggie patch, but in my potting shed, potting up my lavender. After the craziness of the last couple of days, there is nothing more relaxing than potting up lavender. And it definitely had a calming effect on my little assistant Tim the Helper. It was a lovely afternoon, until we ran out of polybags.
The task was selected purely for the guilt factor exuding from it. There was a lot of guilt. They were starting to get a bit woody and the colour was no longer vibrant, but a sort of pasty yellowy green. So rescuing them from their pots was quite timely. Their roots were a little bound, but shame prevents me from elucidating further. So now they have fresh new nutrient rich soil all about their roots.
I have repotted 63 plants and there are still 44 to go. So 107 altogether and I only lost one. Not bad. All this from a $2.50 seed packet, which makes them three and a half cents each. In the garden centres you can buy lavender of the same size for $6, so my crop is worth $642. Not bad at all.
The thing is I want to ask some advice. I’m not that good at growing flowers or anything that’s not strictly edible and so I wondered if I should give them a wee prune as some of them are getting quite leggy. There seems to be some new growth at the base of the plant. The variety is Dwarf Munsted and the description in the seed catalogue says: “A dwarf low growing compact bush with lavender-purple flowers with the true Olde English scent. Very suitable as an edging plant with edible flowers.”
I want to make it into a nice edging plant around my deck and will probably get onto it this spring – early summer as I have put the plants somewhere that will annoy Hubby the Un-Gardener into action as he will need to help me build a small raised bed around the length of the deck. It should look lovely when it is finished and in full bloom.
But the question is – should I give them a prune or not? A light prune or a heavy one? Please let me know.
Come again soon – I shall be relaxing amongst the lavender as I repot the rest. What a great job.
Sarah the Gardener : o )
We prune lavender every winter–whack it back pretty dramatically.
Hi there. Thanks for the advice. Although it seems a little scary to dramatically chop back something you grew lovingly from seed. But it seems it is for the best.
Cheers Sarah : o )
I sowed some of my own from seeds too but my germination rate wasn’t great. Could you run me through on how you go about right from the get go please? Thanks!
Hi Justin. On the 24th of Sept last year I just sowed them in seed raising mix in a flat tray and lightly covered them with seed raising mix and put them in my greenhouse.
On 12 Nov I transplanted them into their own pots, and again into bigger pots on 10 Jan.
I don’t think I did anything special. Maybe my timing was right.
I hope this helps. Cheers Sarah : o )
My hubby always prunes in the fall and winter months. What lovely plans you have for your lavender!
Hi Erin, Thanks for you advice. I think the general consensus is to prune, so that seems to be the next job on the list.
Cheers Sarah : o )
I agree, a hard prune is a good prune. You’ll see lots of good new growth.
Hi Alys. Thanks for your tips. I’m a bit nervous about doing drastic pruning after spending a year trying to get them to grow in the first place. But it seems it is for the best.
Cheers Sarah : o )
I’ve been in your shoes so I know how you feel. One thought is to prune half of them…or a third and take a wait and see approach. Best of luck with whatever you decide to do.
I also prune back in autumn winter, and fairly hard too! The lavender bed will be wonderful – all that scent and all the insects and buzzies that it will attract will be a real pleasure. Well done for growing them from seed, a friend tried but lost the lot, and I struggle with space here to really play around properly…. maybe one day…. Happy Gardening!
Hi Claire. It seemed quite easy to grow from seed, as I didn’t do anything differently from any other seeds I sow. It was really lovely to go into the greenhouse and run your hand through the wee seedlings and release the amazing scent. I have really enjoyed growing them and can’t wait until they are in their final home.
Cheers Sarah : o )
I have enjoyed reading this post. How wonderful to have so many lavender plants, the fragrance will be wonderful round your deck, and very soothing. You are lucky to have such a fine helper in Tim.
HI Jean. I have really enjoyed working with the lavender. I can’t wait until it is all in place in it’s new bed around the deck – except that there is still a lot of work to be done as we have to build the raised bed.
Cheers Sarah : o )
I’m too wishy-washy about my lavender to give them a hard prune, but I do prune them back a bit in the fall.
I’ve tried growing them from seed with zero luck. I read somewhere that lavender seed has a VERY short shelf life, they lose their ability to germinate rather quickly, so I’m thinking you got lucky with a very fresh batch of seeds! I’d love to be able to plant a lavender hedge…maybe one day. Right now, I’ll just be happy with the few plants I do have.
HI Jenn. I was speaking with a lavender expert the other day and he said that not all lavender grows from seed and that most are best grown from cuttings. I got my seeds from a seed company and never really gave any thought about germination rates. I figured if the seed company had it then I should be able to grow it. This is supposed to be a really pretty variety too so should make a lovely display.
Cheers Sarah : o )
What are you going to do with them all? Make a hedge or use them to line the veggie garden to attract bees? You just reminded me to take some cuttings this year and get some more lavender going 🙂
Hi Fran. The lavender will create a lovely border around the deck to make it all pretty as at the moment it is just a motley batch of straggly plants that have chosen to grow there or were there before we got here. The only problem is we need to rip out the unwanted plants, and build a raised bed around half of the house, because lavender don’t like wet feet. A job for summer, when the veggies are in and not producing yet, I think.
Cheers Sarah : o )