{"id":660,"date":"2024-08-22T15:06:29","date_gmt":"2024-08-22T15:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/proxy-botanicalinterestscom.epicgardening.com\/community\/blog\/?p=660"},"modified":"2024-08-22T15:07:00","modified_gmt":"2024-08-22T15:07:00","slug":"lavender-sow-and-grow-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.botanicalinterests.com\/community\/blog\/lavender-sow-and-grow-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Lavender: Sow and Grow Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lavender may be one of the most-loved and recognized scents of all time. Its heady aroma is calming, but powerful enough to whisk us away to lavender fields in France\u2013at least in our imagination. If you were wondering how to grow lavender from seed, you’ve come to the right place!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lavender has a lot of benefits besides beauty and has been used for over 2,500 years for its aromatic and medicinal qualities. Besides bouquets and food, some common uses of lavender are: for calming; relief of anxiety, headaches, insomnia, burns, depression, canker sores, and menstrual pain; as an anti-fungal and anti-microbial; to treat hair loss from alopecia areata; and more uses are being investigated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

General Sowing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When to sow outside:<\/strong> 4 to 6 weeks before your average last frost date, as soon as soil can be worked, or late fall in any climate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When to start inside:<\/strong> RECOMMENDED. 10 to 12 weeks before your average last frost date. Transplant seedlings after average last frost. Soil temperatures between 60\u00b0 and 70\u00b0F are ideal for germination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Special sowing instructions:<\/strong>\u00a0Lavender seeds can take 60 days to germinate. Stratification and light aid germination. Press seeds into the soil surface or sow no deeper than \u215b” so they receive light. Stratification is the process of subjecting seeds to moist\/cold treatment to break dormancy, which occurs naturally when seed is sown outdoors in fall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For indoor, spring sowing, place the seeds in a small container with moist (not soggy) medium in a sealed bag or container (cover to retain moisture) and place in refrigerator for 3\u20136 weeks. Learn more about stratification in our article,\u00a0Stratification and Scarification<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outdoor Sowing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sowing preparation and spacing:<\/strong> Choose a place in full sun (6 or more hours) with good drainage. Poor soils will work just fine\u2013no need to amend. If your soil does not drain well, creating a mound or planting into a berm will improve drainage, as will adding organic material like compost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lavender can take the heat, so areas between the sidewalk and the street or next to a south-facing wall won’t be a problem. Since lavender thrives in dry conditions (xeric), consider planting it with other plants with similar needs to simplify your watering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sow a group of 3 seeds the following distances:<\/p>\n\n\n\n