How to harvest and dry lavender

If you have a good amount of lavender growing in your garden, harvesting and drying a few bunches is a great way to get even more benefits from it.

English vs French lavender

You can dry any sort of lavender. Some people prefer English lavender varieties for certain uses, like in essential oils. But the fragrance you like best is really personal preference.

When to dry lavender

The ideal time to harvest your lavender for drying is when it is starting to flower, but not yet in full bloom (around half the plant in flower).

This generally means July into August is the best time, depending on the weather any particular year.

If you're a bit late with your harvest and some of the flowers are already fading, don't worry too much. You can still try harvesting and drying. You will just find that the fragrance may be less strong and some of the spent flower heads may drop as you're doing it.

When your lavender is ready to be harvested (see above for advice), take a pair of scissors or deadhead snips and cut long lengths. As a rough guide, cutting 10cm stems gives you enough length for hanging.

You can cut as many or few stems as you like. Think about how much drying space you have available, though. You may not want to make 10 bunches of lavender if you only have room to dry 2!

Step 2: Tie your lavender bunches

Once you have your lavender, find a comfortable spot where you can tie the bunches. A table inside is ideal.

Gather together a number of lavender stems. Use an elastic band or twine to tie the stems together. You want it to be tight enough that the stems won't fall out, but not so tight that they are squashed.

There is no exact number of lavender stems to include per bunch. If you purchase dried lavender bunches, you can find anything from mini 10 stems bunches to 200 stem bunches!

You want to hang your lavender in a room that's fairly cool and where it won't be blasted by direct sunlight.

There are many different ways to hang lavender, including:

• You could run a length of twine between two hooks high on the wall. Tie your lavender bunches at intervals along this twine
• If you have beams with hooks, you can hang a bunch on each hook. You could uncurl paperclips and attach one end to the lavender elastic / twine and the other to the hook
• You could hang bunches from a metal frame, or even a ladder
• A simple hook on the wall will still do the trick, as long as there's a bit of circulation around the flowers

Make sure your lavender is drying with the flowers facing downwards. Drying lavender upside down helps stops the flower heads from dropping while it's drying.

Step 4: Harvest your lavender

In around 2-4 weeks time, your lavender should be dry. Touch the flowers very gently - they should feel completely dry to the touch.

Take your bunches and gently rub off the flowers. Keep them in an airtight container or bag and store in a cool, dark location, like an unheated cupboard.