Lavender Harvest

We are really pleased with our "lavender farm".  The Hidcote lavender we purchased from Weir's Lane Lavender Farm seem to love the location and the soil amendments we did when we planted them.  See our earlier blog for planting description.  We hoped to create a low lavender hedge. We really like how they work with the roses that are blossoming on our homemade trellises.

Our lavender farm

They are beautiful even though they are not yet in full bloom.  We decided to harvest the lavender, nevertheless, as it was just at the right stage to harvest for drying.  We plan to make dried bouquets and it is best to harvest them just before the flowers open into full bloom. To harvest cut the stem as close to the base as possible.

It's a pleasure to harvest; it looks beautiful and smells wonderful!

Next we stripped the leaves off of the stems.  We kept the leaves to use in potpourri and sachets.

Misha stripping the leaves from the stems

We sorted the lavender into 3 categories: Grade A for dried bouquets and lavender wands, short flower stems for sachets and leaves and broken stems for fresh pot potpourri.  Kevin from Weir's Lane Lavender, told us that the leaves and stems don't have much fragrance when dried.

Sorted lavender

The cats helped by guarding the lavender.

Poppy watching over the bundled lavender

Cinnamon on guard

We needed a warm dry place out of the sun to dry the lavender and our stair railing seemed perfect for the job.  I have to admit that after a week the fragrance of lavender was a bit overwhelming.  It's dry now and out in the mud room waiting to be packaged for dried bouquets we will give as gifts.

Lavender drying on stair rail

We look forward to an even bigger harvest next year now that the lavender is well established.  If you have a sunny dry spot in your garden, think about lavender as an option.  It's beautiful, fragrant and useful in many ways.

Lovely lavender!

Misha