Well, somewhere along the way I have lost or forgotten how to get into my blogs so I found this old one and am posting to this.
How to Plant Lavender from Seeds
Lavender is a beautiful,
fragrant bush that produces purple, white, or yellow flowers, depending on the
specific variety. Most gardeners usually propagate lavender from cuttings, but
the plant can also be grown from seed. Growing lavender from seed is not always
successful and is a fairly slow process, but the method is often less costly
than buying cuttings or pre-started lavender plants and can eventually produce
plants that are just as vibrant.
GERMINATING SEEDS
Start the seeds 6 to 12 weeks
before warm weather hits. Lavender seeds can take a while to germinate and
should be started early indoors so that they have plenty of time to grow into
mature plants during the warm growing
Put the seeds through a
process called "cold stratifying." In this process, seeds should be
placed in a sealable plastic bag filled with moist soil. Use a commercial soil
specially formulated for starting seeds. Place the plastic bag with the soil
and seeds inside the refrigerator and allow it to sit for three weeks.
Fill a container with seed
starting mix. The seed starting mix should be a light potting mix that drains
well. You can either use a plastic seedling tray or a wide, shallow container
without divisions.
Plant the seeds. Sprinkle the
seeds on top of the soil.
If
using a plastic seedling tray, plant one seed per slot.
If
planting in a division-free container, space the seeds 1/2 to 1 inch (1.27 to
2.54 cm) apart.
Cover the seeds with 1/8 inch
(1/3 cm) potting mix. A light coating of potting mix protects the seeds, but
the seeds also need access to sunlight in order to germinate.
Lightly water the seeds. Keep
the growing medium moist, but not damp, and water the seeds in the morning so
that the soil can dry some before evening hits. Soil that is too damp and cool
will invite fungus to grow, and fungus will destroy your seeds.
Wait. Lavender seeds can take
two weeks to one month to sprout.
Give sprouted seeds plenty of
light. After the seeds sprout, you should move the container to a location that
receives plenty of direct sunlight. If no such location is available, place a
fluorescent grow light about the sprouts and allow them to sit in the
artificial light for eight hours a day.
TRANSPLANTING
Make the first transplant
after lavender gets several sets of leaves. Wait until the leaves are
"true leaves," or fully matured. At that point, the root system will
have grown too large to continue sitting in a shallow tray.
Fill a larger container with
well-drained potting mix. You no longer have to seed starting mix, but the
potting mix you do use should be light. Look for mixes that are made of part
soil and part peat, perlite, or vermiculite.
The pot for each plant should
be at least 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter. Alternatively, you can also use a
larger pot or division-free tray and space multiple lavender plants in the tray
2 inches (5 cm) apart from one another.
Mix a little fertilizer into
the soil. Use a small amount of granular slow-release fertilizer that contains
balanced proportions of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.
Place the lavender into the
prepared pot. Dig a small hole in the fresh growing media that is about as big
as the compartment the lavender presently sits in. Gently pry the lavender out
of its original container and transplant it into the new hole, packing the soil
around it to keep it firmly fixed in place.
Allow the lavender to
continue growing. The plants must reach a height of 3 inches (7.6 cm) before
they can be transplanted to their final location, but they should still only
have a single stem. This could take anywhere from one to three months.
Expose the lavender to
outdoor conditions slowly. Place your pots outdoors in partial shade or partial
sun for a few hours at a time. Do this for about one week, just long enough for
the lavender to have time to adapt to outdoor conditions.
Choose a sunny location.
Lavender plants do best when grown in partial to full sun. Shaded areas tend to
be soggier, and soggy soil can invite fungi that will destroy the plant.
Prepare the garden soil. Chop
the soil up with a trowel or digging fork to loosen it and mix in a healthy
dose of compost. Compost has uneven particles, creating looser soil and making
it easier for roots to stretch out.
Check the soil of the pH
after adding compost. The soil pH should rest between 6 and 8, and preferably
between 6.5 and 7.5 for best results. If soil pH is too low, mix in
agricultural lime. If it is too high, add a small amount of plant litter pine
sawdust.
Transplant the lavender
plants 12 to 24 inches (30 1/2 to 61 cm) apart. Dig a hole that is as deep as
the container the plant currently grows in. Remove the plant from its pot,
using a garden trowel to carefully slide it out, and plant the lavender into
the new hole.
DAILY CARE
Water the lavender only when
dry. Mature lavender is fairly drought-resistant, but while lavender is within
its first year of growth, it needs regular watering. Normal weather conditions
often suffice, but if you live in an area that is particularly dry or if you
have not received much rain, you should regularly soak the soil. Allow the soil
to dry out in between watering, though.
Avoid chemicals. Herbicides,
pesticides, and even fertilizers can kill the beneficial organisms that live in
the garden soil and help your lavender to thrive. Skip the fertilizer
altogether once planted in the ground. If a pesticide is needed, try an organic
pesticide solution that contains no chemicals, since this is less likely to
have a negative effect.
Prune the lavender. Lavender
grows slowly during the first year, and most of the plant's energy goes toward
root development and vegetative growth. You should encourage this process by
cutting off any flowering stems once the first buds begin to open during the
first growing season.
After the first year, cut
flowering stems after 1/3 of the buds have opened to encourage further growth.
Leave behind at least 1/3 of the new growth.
Mulch during cold weather.
Keep the soil warm by applying gravel or bark mulch around the base of the
plant, leaving 6 inches (15 1/4 cm) of free space around the stem for air
circulation.
You can also grow lavender
from cuttings. Growing lavender from cuttings usually yields more usable
lavender sooner, and many gardeners agree that it is much easier to do than
growing lavender from seed.
Lavender can be harvested
after the first year for decorative arrangements, culinary purposes,
aromatherapy, and homeopathic medicines.
Happy Gardening, Arlene
Wright-Correll
Home Farm Herbery where
everything is grown with love
Labels: dyi, gardening, growing, how to, lavender, planting
