Lavender plants have a life of anywhere from five to 18 or 20 years but they take about three years to become fully productive so we need to constantly think ahead. In the summer of 2010 a team of planters helped us to put in about 7,000 plugs over four days. We did it with military precision, mathematically mapping out the newly ploughed and prepared field with a giant ruler to ensure each plant would be exactly 18″ from the next in the row, and that the rows themselves would be precisely five feet apart. The open space between rows diminishes to about two feet once plants reach maturity and that room is needed so we can work up and down the rows at harvest time.

On a rainy July weekend in 2010 friends and neighbours helped us plant 7,000 Maillette and Grosso plugs. (Nancy Durham)

We use recyclable polypropylene ground cover to keep weeds down organically. It is not pretty but as the plants grow and spread it is the lavender which catches your eye, not the covering. A small slit is made in the covering for each plant. Weeds still manage to wangle their way up through the slits and need to be dealt with until the plants get big enough to keep them out. The ground cover “breathes” allowing water and air in and out.

Lavender plants need to be carefully spaced. Malcolm Jarman and Venn Davies measure to place 7,000 plugs. (Carl Ryan)

New plants need to be cut back before blooming for the first two or three years. This encourages lateral growth and bushier, more productive plants. Mature lavender plants produce the best oils. Mature plants also need pruning once they’ve finished flowering. Cutting back prevents them from developing long woody out of control legs. When pruning care is taken not to cut into the woody part of the stem. The cut is made leaving a couple of inches of the season’s new green growth.

Newly planted Grosso in our rich red earth. (Mari Sterling)

We have yet to master an effective system for propagating our own plugs so for now we buy them in.

Jean Jarman & Kath Price, willing planters in all weather. (Carl Ryan)

Betty Powell gathers freshly cut Royal Purple into bunches to hang to dry.

We cut lavender with small hand held serrated sickles we’ve collected on our travels in Sicily where a sickle is called a falce and in Portugal where it is a foice. We mastered these two words and amused ironmongers in both countries as we went in search of the perfect cutting tool. The harvest takes place in July and August. We cut Imperial Gem followed by Royal Purple when they are in full colour and just about to spring open. The first sign of the colour purple one sees is that of the calyx, the floral case. Next, as the flowers develop comes the corolla, the actual flower petals. For the non oil producers we cut just as the corollas begin to pop. We tie them in small bunches with rubber bands because the stems shrink as they dry and hang them to dry in our shed. If we cut too late the flowers drop off easily and don’t make good bouquets although the loose flowers are lovely for stuffing into cushions. Maillette is next for harvesting in late July, followed by Grosso and both are used in oil production. You can read about the distillation process in The Science of Lavender section.

Baden Powell, left, and Bill Newton-Smith on a harvest day.