Drying Lavender

All the way back in last year, we discussed the possibility of drying lavender. It didn't happen, but this year, I have HOPE that we will get to the lavender in time. Anyway, since I had lavender on my mind, I figured that I might as well explain the method/process of drying lavender. It's actually fairly simple to do!

The first step is to actually harvest the lavender. We'll want to harvest it when they first start budding (that's where we were too late last year). We don't want to harvest all of the lavender though, because they attract bees for pollination. All you need to do to harvest is to cut the stem of the lavender with scissors. Make sure that when you cut it, that you leave a lengthy stem.

Next, we need to create bunches of lavender and hang them up (this is where the lengthy stem comes in). We just need to gather up some individual herbs, line up their stems, and tie them together with string or wrap a rubber band around them. Then we can attach a paper clip to the string/rubber band so that we can hang the bunch upside down easier.

The ideal place to dry lavender is somewhere cool, dry, and without direct sunlight. If you are like me, then we both thought of the basement! There's actually a sort of chain fence/wall thing that's right next to where we store all the gardening supply and it is perfect for us to hang up the lavender bunches to dry!

All that is left for us to do after those steps is to wait for the lavender to dry out. We just need to remember to space out the bunches when we hang them up to allow for good air flow and to keep a close eye on them.

Until next time!!