Lavender Harvesting

It was in June 2017 when I planted my six, tiny lavender plants. The first year there was almost no growth and no flowers to harvest. I wasn’t sure they would make it, as I wasn’t convinced that the spot was right or the soil available. That summer was a bit cold and rainy as well which is not the favorite for lavender plants. Perhaps, they needed a bit more time to grow the roots properly to then focus on growth on top of the soil too. Today my plants have exploded in size. If I had known how huge they would get, I would have spaced them better. It is what it is, I learn from mistakes. I will mind the gap better when I will plant my lavender fields in the future. Yes, I love lavender that much! I would love to be engulfed and surrounded by its purple, sweet-scented magic all the time!

“What do you do with the lavender? I meant to be harvesting it?”, asked Hive account@tarazkp recently who also has some in his garden. Lavender happens to be quite a useful plant besides being pretty, purple, and having lovely fragrance. It has many calming and healing properties, and it is good for both, external and internal consumption. As my six plants don’t yield huge amounts of the plant material, I can’t think of trying out the essential oil making just yet using the distillation process which I find fascinating. Maybe someday. I hope. There are however other ways to make lavender oil that I might give a go this year besides the other project that I have in works that I will keep as a secret for now. For sauna goers, lavender flower pillows for face can transform the experience, as well as lavender-infused body scrubs, balms, oils, soap, and butter. Oh my, if only I had the field amount of the material! Sometimes I use my dried lavender as a herbal tea by pouring boiling water over it and let it steep for a while as well.

Collecting and drying lavender does not hurt even if you haven’t figured out the right use for it for you yet. It is pretty easy to store too. I cut mine, bundle it up, and hang it to dry. Except, last year as I was in a hurry to harvest it at the last minute. There is quite a difference with the timing of harvesting too. When harvesting late, more of the flowers have opened and fall off the stems. Some sources also say unopened buds hold a lot more of the oil than fully bloomed flowers.

This year I decided to follow the advice to harvest early and as Hive account@generikat mentioned in her post as soon as about a couple of flowers on each stem open. So I grabbed my scissors and trimmed my plants a fair amount. I did not harvest it all as I wanted to leave some for bees who seem to be ruling the lavender this time around. Years before bumblebees and butterflies pushed the bees away to feed on other flowers and the blooming peppermint or so it seemed.