You are viewing the article How to Harvest Lavender at Tnhelearning.edu.vn you can quickly access the necessary information in the table of contents of the article below.
This article was co-written by Artemisia Nursery. Artemisia Nursery is a retail plant nursery in Northeast Los Angeles that specializes in growing native plants in California. Artemisia Nursery is a small, employee-owned business, with plans to become a cooperative. In addition to native California plants, Artemisia Nursery offers a selection of succulents, vegetables and herbs, houseplants, pottery, gardening supplies and tools. By focusing on exploiting the knowledge of the founders, Artemisia Nursery also advises, designs and installs for customers.
There are 7 references cited in this article that you can see at the bottom of the page.
This article has been viewed 6,342 times.
Lavender is not only beautiful and lush when grown in the garden, but can also be harvested for crafting, cooking, and decoration. A mature lavender plant can provide 7-8 flower spikes per season that you can dry and store for months. Furthermore, harvesting lavender helps the plant to live longer, as old branches are removed to make room for young shoots to grow. Then grab your gloves, sharpen your pruning shears and harvest flowers to enjoy the sweet scent of lavender branches!
Steps
Cut flowers
- If you cut your lavender in the spring, it may give the plant enough time to bloom for a second harvest.
- Try to harvest lavender when the buds are full and the flowers are just open but not full.
- If you pick flowers later in the day, the sun will evaporate some of the oil in the plant. The flowers may still be fragrant, but they will not be as strong as in the early morning.
- Choose lavender like you would a fruit – if it’s not pretty and ripe, don’t pick it.
- The number of flower stems that fit in the hand is called a “bundle”.
- A single lavender bush in the first year usually only blooms for 1-2 bunches, but older plants can have up to 10 bunches.
- The best tool for cutting lavender is called a scythe. The blade is curved like a scythe and has a serrated edge. If you don’t have this knife, you can use hand-held pruning shears. If you’re using a scythe, you’ll hook around the bouquet and pull the blade toward you to cut off the stems.
- If you want to bunch the flowers together, you can tie an elastic band around the flower stems before cutting.
- It is best to harvest the flower as a whole rather than just cutting individual flowers. That way, you won’t leave a bunch of sticks around the tree.
Drying and storing lavender
- If you’re going to display lavender, this is a great way to preserve the flowers until you want them to be in a bouquet.
- Washing lavender is an extremely important step if you are going to use the flowers for food. If you use it for decoration or to dry, you don’t need to worry much about washing the flowers.
- If you are drying flowers, you can use twine to tie the flowers into bunches and hang them upside down on hooks or nails. Tie up the bouquets if necessary, as the stems will wilt as they dry out.
- Drying lavender indoors can take several weeks, while drying in the sun only takes a few days.
- Make sure the flowers are completely dry before storing! If you store the flowers while they are still wet, mold can multiply and ruin the scent of the lavender.
- Dried lavender usually retains its fragrance for a season.
- Dried lavender can be kept for many months. Your main concern after the flower dries is the petals falling off the stem – because the flowers are so small, it will be difficult for you to gather them together.
- Be careful when handling lavender. Too many flowers can give the dish a perfumed flavor; so you should only use a little at first!
- Dried lavender looks great when paired with neutral-colored flowers, such as white lilies or white daisies.
Advice
- The sooner you start drying your flowers, the easier it will be to avoid mold.
Warning
- Be careful with the bees! Plant pollinators love lavender, and they will buzz around as you harvest the flowers. If you just ignore the bees, they won’t bother you.
This article was co-written by Artemisia Nursery. Artemisia Nursery is a retail plant nursery in Northeast Los Angeles that specializes in growing native plants in California. Artemisia Nursery is a small, employee-owned business, with plans to become a cooperative. In addition to native California plants, Artemisia Nursery offers a selection of succulents, vegetables and herbs, houseplants, pottery, gardening supplies and tools. By focusing on exploiting the knowledge of the founders, Artemisia Nursery also advises, designs and installs for customers.
There are 7 references cited in this article that you can see at the bottom of the page.
This article has been viewed 6,342 times.
Lavender is not only beautiful and lush when grown in the garden, but can also be harvested for crafting, cooking, and decoration. A mature lavender plant can provide 7-8 flower spikes per season that you can dry and store for months. Furthermore, harvesting lavender helps the plant to live longer, as old branches are removed to make room for young shoots to grow. Then grab your gloves, sharpen your pruning shears and harvest flowers to enjoy the sweet scent of lavender branches!
Thank you for reading this post How to Harvest Lavender at Tnhelearning.edu.vn You can comment, see more related articles below and hope to help you with interesting information.
Related Search: