Growing lavender made easy

For years, people have come up to me at the farmers markets saying that they can never grow lavender, that they always kill it. I know that the struggle is real because over the past few years I have struggled with keeping lavender alive as well, but I have come to realize that growing lavender really is easy, you just have to master a few key concepts.

Most people who plant lavender, plant it with other flowers. Flowers that require lots of water and fertilizers. What most people don't know is that lavender is a Mediterranean plant. Historically they have thrived in harsh, dry climates with poor soil. I say historically because I have come to think that lavender grown today requires just a little more care than those historical plants, but not as much as most flowers do. It's all about finding that sweet spot that will set lavender up for success. Here is what I have found to make growing lavender a little easier.

First and foremost, if you are going to grow lavender in a bed with other plants, plant lavender with other plants that have the same growing requirements. Lavender pairs well with other herbs, roses (shocking I know), and other plants that do not require a lot of water, love full sun, like a slightly alkaline soil, and want well draining soil.

Do not plant lavender with plants that require a lot of water, want partial or full shade, and need lots of fertilizer.

For the first several years that is how I grew my lavender plants, and they loved it! As I move to my new farm I will be changing a few things up, not much but a few.

As I mentioned above lavender requires full sun (6+ hours a day). They do not like "wet feet", so well draining soil is a must. If you have a lot of clay in your soil you will need to mix in either sand or small gravel into your soil to help the water drain away from the roots of your plant. If where you want to plant you lavender has a tendency to have standing water, building a raised bed would be a good idea. Lavender does not need rich soil, but I have found that when I first plant my lavender, if I put a small handful of worm castings in the bottom of the hole they rebound from the transplanting faster and they start growing faster.

If you plant your lavender in the ground you shouldn't have to fertilize your plants at all, but if you plan of growing your lavender in pot you will have to lightly fertilize your plants monthly. I have tried several different types of fertilizer (except for straight manure, do not use manure, compost is ok, manure is not) and chemical make ups and all of them worked, so choose what you like to use.

Water your plants 2-3 times a week after transplanting until the plants get established and they start to grow new growth. After that you will only need to water every week to every other week depending on how fast your soil dries out. And if you get fairly constant rain you shouldn't have to water your lavenders at all. Even if you get a dry spell that lasts, lavender is very drought tolerant, so you can cut back on your watering if you need to. You will have to water any lavender that is planted in pots when the first inch of soil is dry. Give the pot a good soak and then let the water drain off, so make sure that your pot has drainage holes!

Mulching isn't needed, but if you want or need to mulch around your lavenders, use limestone gravel not wood chips. The gravel will not trap the water and hold it like wood chips will. This will help keep your lavender roots from rotting. Plus the lavender will love the heat that is reflected off of the white gravel.

My first lavender "bed" back in the day. I mulched with limestone gravel.

Once you get your "set up" figured out, lavender is a low maintenance plant. The trick is to set your plant up for success from the beginning, so that you don't have to spend time, money and effort trying to save your plant(s) later. If you want to enjoy your lavender for years to come make sure that they variety of lavender that you buy has USDA zone that is appropriate for your area. All of my lavender that I grow and sell is "zoned" for Southwest Missouri, But I do still protect my lavender in the winter. If you are interested in see how I do that check out my Overwintering Lavender blog.

If you have any question comment below and happy growing!