Beginner’s Guide to Growing Fragrant Lavender

Lavender has a distinct fragrance, which can create an inviting ambiance within your home, office or business. In addition to its fragrance, lavender can be used for medicinal purposes. Between these lovely attributes and lavender’s beautiful purple color, it’s no surprise that it’s a highly sought-after plant for home gardening. For beginners who aren’t familiar with the process of planting, growing and caring for lavender, follow our beginner’s guide below.

Lavender Gardening Tips

Sunny Location

Lavender will thrive in a hot location that gets plenty of sun. The location you choose will impact how well your lavender plant will flourish, so find a spot in your garden that will get at least six hours and preferably a full eight hours of sunlight per day. Lavender plants do not tolerate any shade.

Correct Variety

It’s also important to buy the correct variety of lavender that corresponds to the area you live in. Beginners might not be aware that there are several different varieties of lavender to choose from when planting lavender, and if the variety you choose is not compatible with your region it might fail to grow.

Prep Soil

The soil is the foundation of gardening, so choosing and prepping soil is a crucial step in the process of growing lavender (or any plant for that matter). Using a home testing kit for your soil will help get alkaline soil with a pH between 7 and 8, the optimal soil conditions for growing lavender.

Prune

Before and after planting, gardeners must prune their lavender for best results. Pruning helps encourage growth, so aim to prune your lavender plants at least once a year to keep them flourishing. Pruning also encourages air flow and good circulation through the stems.

Avoid Over-Watering

It’s important to water lavender sparingly, but beware that over-watering is the kiss of death for lavender plants. Overwatering lavender is the main culprit of killing the roots, which will inevitably lead to growth failure.

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