How to Harvest and Dry Lavender

Lavender grows readily in home gardens and tolerates poor soil and dry climates well. Plant lavender in your flower or herb garden. And learn how to harvest it for use in home projects.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Lavender in Bloom
• Twine
• Hand pruners

1. 
   Fresh Lavender

   Lavender blooms during summer months. When buds are just about to open cut lavender stems down to the leaves. Lavender likes to be pruned and will grow back quickly. So cut with abandon.

2. 
   Lavender Tied with Twine

   Arrange lavender stalks in small bouquets on top of twine. Secure with the lengths of twine.

3. 
   Drying Lavender

   Hang upside-down for two to four weeks to dry. Hanging in a window will bring a nice smell to the room. Lavender blooms will appear dry and begin to fall off when ready to be removed from the stem.

4. 
   Dried Lavender

   Push blooms off of the stem with fingers into a dry, open container. Do this above a flexible cutting board or a piece of paper so that any stray blossoms can be easily swept into the container.

Tips & Warnings

• Use gloves when removing blossoms from stems to keep hands from becoming irritated.
• There are two varieties of lavender that are easy to obtain, lavende and lavendin. Use lavende if you are at a high altitude, for the best fragrance. Use lavendin in lower altitude city environments for best results.
• If lavender blossoms are harvested and placed in containers before they are completely dry, they will begin to mold.

Resources

• eHow Home and Garden Topic Guide

[boatst]

on 9/15/2009 good instructions. Thanks