Are you growing lavender in your garden? Read along to learn when and how to harvest lavender flowers for crafting, cooking and simply enjoying as fresh blooms around the house.
When to harvest lavender...
Lavender for cooking should be harvested early in the flowering season when just a handful of flowers have opened up on the flower head. At this time the essential oil is at a minimum in the lavender buds. Lavender's essential oil, while smelling wonderful and being full of remarkable properties, is quite bitter to taste and will overpower the subtly sweet flavor of the lavender buds themselves.
Lavender harvested later in the flowering season when most of the flowers have bloomed will be heavily laden with aromatic essential oil. For uses where strong fragrance is sought after, this is the ideal time to harvest.
Simply put...
- harvest early in the flowering season for cooking
- harvest later in the flowering season for fragrant uses
- harvest anytime the flowers are blooming and beautiful for fresh floral use.
What you'll need to harvest lavender...
Scissors, clippers or garden shears will do the job.
How to harvest lavender...
Grasp a handful of stalks (be sure to leave at least 2-3 inches of green on the plant) and cut them with your scissors. It's that easy!
How to dry lavender for later use...
Bundle the stalks with rubber bands, bundles should be no more than 1.5 inches in diameter to keep the stalks from mildewing. Hang the bundles in an area of your garage or house that is well ventilated and out of direct sunlight. (Sunlight will cause the color to fade more rapidly.) Bundles can take 4-6 weeks to thoroughly dry.
Once the lavender bundles have thoroughly dried you are ready for cooking and crafting to your heart's content!
2 comments
Loved your products!
I have some lovely lavender and will harvest this week. How can I keep my plants healthy for more years?