employ these wind for harvesting and drying lavender at the correct clock time .
You ’ve carefully chosen the best lavender varieties to plant for a fragrant garden , and maybe you ’ve even render growing lavender indoors to have year - round access to its beautiful bloom . Now it ’s time to calculate out how to reap lavender from your garden at the right time . You may want to dry lavender to revel the herb ’s sapidity in your favored recipes and its beauty and fragrance infloral arrangementsand crafts . practice this guide to reap and dry lavender for the respectable heyday color and aroma .
When to Harvest Lavender
Time your lavender crop based on how you plan to practice the herb . If you ’re going to make dry bundles of lavender , reap it early in the season when the first blossoms open on the plant . When unobjectionable - looking buds are require for cooking or workmanship projection , reap it before the blossom open and turn brown .
To harvestlavender for teatime , nibble the peak before they in full open . When you require to make a refreshing nosegay of lavender , glean the stems when about half the blooms are open — extra buds will bloom after the stem are cut . Wait until most of the blossoms have opened to reap lavender for essential oil .
Harvest lavender on a cheery mean solar day after the morning dew has dried . No part of the plant should be reveal to rainwater within 24 hours before being picked . Harvesting lavender when it is damp increases the chances for fungi to moulder the picked stem , so it ’s important that harvesting begins only when the plant is completely dry .
Credit:Helen Norman
How to Harvest Lavender for Cooking
For urinate lavender - infusedcookies , cake , lemonade , or other treats , English lavender ( Lavandula angustifolia)is thebest lavender to growfor all of your culinary purposes . Culinary variety show ofL. angustifoliasuch as “ Hidcote Blue ’ , ‘ Buena Vista ’ , ‘ Melissa ’ , ‘ Betty ’s aristocratic ’ , ‘ Folgate ’ , ‘ Royal Velvet ’ , and ‘ Munstead ’ are down in the mouth in camphor , are commercially grow without chemicals , and processed in a sanitary way that is safe to eat . crop lavender for cooking just before the flowers open , and verify to dry out the bud before you practice them . neglect the leaves because they have a jolly medicinal fragrance , and they ’re not recommended for preparation .
Helen Norman
Tips for How to Harvest Lavender
How to Dry Lavender
The good way to dry lavender is to fall bundles from a chain or roofy , upside down in a dark , warm , juiceless , and airy room . Thisdrying methodpreserves the color of the flower buds and helps prevent mold from get on the lavender . It ’s important to keep air circulate when drying lavender . Asimple fancan help disperse atmosphere in drying space such as a gloomy press or basement .
Depending on the dry conditions , it can take up to six weeks for the bundles to dry out . You ’ll be intimate when a shank is fully dry if it break when it ’s bended .
Lavender Drying Don’ts : Avoid dry out lavender plants in a service department if they will be exposed to engine or chemical fumes . Oven drying is not recommended because the oven ’s heat energy publish all important crude oil from the peak buds .
Credit:Helen Norman
How to Harvest Lavender Buds
To reap dried lavender bud for sachets , bear flush stalk over a with child bowl and chance the blossom head against the side of the bowl . Scrape stubborn buds from the stalks with your finger to remove them .
Pour the lavender buds into a strainer to get the cleanest buds for make and crafting . lightly shake off the strainer to beak out pieces of radical or any other debris too with child to skid through the strainer ’s holes .
dry out lavender buds to be used in foodwill keep the best in airtight glass containers . Loose bud used for crafts can be stored in resealable handbag .
Tips for Growing Lavender
You cangrow lavender outdoorsin your garden orindoors in a potfor twelvemonth - turn utilisation . The most important thing whengrowing lavenderis to ensure the industrial plant get plenty of fair weather , or if you have indoor plants , use a grow light to give them what they involve . You canpropagate lavenderto impart more plants to your collection , but be sure your plants are n’t copyright - protected before you do . If you grow roses , lavender ca-ca a adept fellow traveller plant since it attract pollinators that roses necessitate to confab . Lavender ’s scent has lull qualities , so cut lavender and keep it by your bed to help you unlax and sleep well .
