My wife & I have started a lavender farm for our retirement (we’re not there yet but want to have all the kinks worked out before we have to rely on it for income).
Lavender doesn’t reproduce true from seeds. You’ll want to get small plants or even cuttings. If you start out with a 3" pot sized starter plant you should get blooms the first year. If you go with cuttings or smaller starters you’ll need to wait a year.
It’s worth planting several varieties so you get different bloom times over the season, otherwise you’ll generally get one in either the early summer or fall. The Texas heat shouldn’t be a problem but if you’re plagued by high humidity or wet soils lavender won’t thrive - it likes dry.
Stay on top of your pruning and be aggressive or it will get leggy and unkempt and you’ll be replanting in a few years. If you tend them carefully you’ll get 15 or 20 years of productive blooming.
This is why I so badly want a laser cutter. Everyday I think of non-sexy things to make with it just to have my house more organized and neater.
For instance, the fixture we replaced with a ceiling fan is in the ceiling fan box…I want to make a box for the light fixture and throw the big fan box away. Or how about kitchen drawers. Or bathroom drawers. Or soap/scrub wand holder in kitchen (like shown before). Or a small box to put other small items in!
Ugh…the amount of un-sexy things I’ll make with a Glowforge!!!
You’re right (from an attention standpoint - the hole really won’t cost that much, not like boats ). Lavender is usually killed by over-caring owners. They treat it like a normal houseplant, lots of water, fertilizer, etc. All it really needs is occasional watering, plenty of sun and good drainage so the roots don’t rot. It’s an herb so there aren’t even really any pests to worry about unlike “real” flowers.
The stuff comes from (originally) the rocky shores of the Mediterranean and that’s what it likes best. People see things like “English” lavender and think they have to treat it like an English garden Benign neglect is better than over attention (which is one reason it’s ideal as a retirement farm crop).
Absolutely…benign neglect. They grow tons of lavender in Sequim, WA. Unlike most of Western Washington, Sequim gets lots of sunny days (big retirement community). There are fields and fields of the stuff. Quite a sight to see. - Rich
That’s where I get my starter plants - even though it’s all the way across the country. When we get bigger we’ll put in our own cutting greenhouse but right now it makes more sense to get good stuff from the source.
We have a company based here in town that is out to be the one stop shop for indoor growing. (Hydrobuilder.com) Pretty sure urban carrot farmers aren’t their market.
‘Cultivate’ is a popular Denver supply for the ‘Mile High’ growers. (cough) so Iv’e heard)
Reminds me of the dry goods vendors in during the gold rush - “mine the miners”.
Here it was May, Daniels & Fisher - (May D&F)
I had a small plant that was flourishing in a pot. One day within like 12hrs it turned into a dried up stick. Strangest thing I’ve seen a plant do.
I got some French lavender seed from Alibaba.com for $3. Not really expecting anything miraculous, but the full plants were $25ea, so why not try right? I was unaware you could clone lavender. Good to know!
Wow! A 3" potted plant costs under $2 in Connecticut.
Easy to propagate cuttings - YouTube has some videos to walk you through the process. A lavender plant has lots of stems that can be used without harming the parent plant. Be interesting to see what you get from your alibaba seeds - there are a bunch of varieties of “French Lavender”. I’m willing to bet you’re going to get several different plants from the same set of seeds
Let me know if you have any questions/need help. PM me so we don’t keep derailing this topic
Not as physically tangible as all the amazing work that’s been shown, but I just finished my design portfolio so I figured, hey, why not! One big thing I learned…always be thinking about how your work will look in a standardized format. Definitely had some frustrating moments trying to get images originally organized on big 2’ x 6’ posters to fit on 8.5 “x 11” pages. And document, document, document: take pictures of everything!
Thanks @printolaser! I majorly procrastinated on getting it done, but once I finally got the ball rolling it turned out to be a lot of fun (albeit frustrating at times when my six year old laptop would run soooo slow).
Thanks @jbv, as well! Re-creating some sketches is most definitely at the top of my list once I get my glowforge. That study abroad experience was the best opportunity ever…you never realize how much the ‘practice makes perfect’ mantra really does work until you’re doing the thing non-stop, every day. If you’re interested in learning, I would recommend Francis D.K. Ching’s Architectural Drawing books…amazingly detailed and inspiring! Then, of course, just go and spend a few weeks doing nothing but sitting around and drawing
Oooh, I like the style of that comic strip!! All the detail in that first panel is amazing.
). Lavender is usually killed by over-caring owners. They treat it like a normal houseplant, lots of water, fertilizer, etc. All it really needs is occasional watering, plenty of sun and good drainage so the roots don’t rot. It’s an herb so there aren’t even really any pests to worry about unlike “real” flowers.
Benign neglect is better than over attention (which is one reason it’s ideal as a retirement farm crop).
